The Hogwarts Herald
by ValentinaHay
Summary: Times have changed, and so has Hogwarts. It has a school paper now. And Scorpius Malfoy is the reluctant editor, who is being accused by one angry Rose Weasley of a Herald related conspiracy that he knows nothing about. Then there is Albus, who just can't catch a break with anyone. Join the new generation in their journey through the drama that enfolds Hogwarts on a regular basis.
1. Of newspapers and Rhetorical Questions

**A/N: After reading some amazing writings by all the Potterheads here, I finally decided to publish something of my own. So, here it is. It is my first ever story. And I am just winging it. So, be patient and kind. Although constructive criticism is always welcomed. hope you like it. And if you do, please review.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Only JKR does. I just own the characters that I created.**

 **WARNING: I plan to go very much off canon with some of the details. But they are not as major as you'd imagine. I think.**

 _ **HOGWARTS HERALD: DRAFT**_

 _ **28th September 2022**_

 _ **Sports Section, Page 6**_

 _ **WEASLEY OR POTTER?**_

 _Quidditch season is upon us, and it is about to begin with a bang! There is a lot of speculation (and some harmless betting) going around Hogwarts as to what will happen in this Gryffindor Vs Slytherin match next week, not solely due to the commonly known Quidditch rivalry between the two old houses that has been going on since decades, but also due to two very prominent names newly appointed as captains of the respective teams._

 _As we all know, Gryffindor took an embarrassing nose dive last year in this cutthroat race to Quidditch Cup after their beloved captain of three years, James Potter, departed from Hogwarts to join Puddlemore United as their latest seeker. James possessed a keen strategic mind for the game and was known as one of the toughest captain Gryffindor had seen in many years. The last year has been tough on Gryffindor, under the reign of Arnold McFee, a brilliant chaser in his own right, albeit a lax captain, as rumored around Hogwarts. However, this year Gryffindor may have a ray of hope with captainship handed over to Rose Weasley, who has played the position of Keeper for the team since last three years. Our sources confirm that this sixth year prefect is a vast improvement on McFee as a captain. However, Weasley has been rumored to show her own errors of judgement. Her team comprises of a surprising amount of ladies. Roxanne Weasley once again holds her position as the Seeker, Helena Abbott-Longbottom and Irene Colbert as two of the Chasers and Catrina Ralfe as one of the Beaters, which leaves only Fred Weasley as the second Beater and McFee as the third Chaser. Doesn't Gryffindor possess better male players or is there a political agenda to this subtle sexism? Considering the fact that Weasley is the daughter of the first female Minister of Magic, the latter is a significant possibility. It is no secret that Minister Weasley has fought many a hard won wars with the Ministry for house elf rights and muggle fraternization policies. I wouldn't be surprised if Rose inherited a bit of a radical streak from our Madam Minister. Perhaps Weasley means to take the words 'girl power' reach a whole another level. In the end, only Weasley can answer this question truthfully._

 _McFee, when asked about his opinion on the transformation of Gryffindor team, he had a few peculiar things to say: "Rose Weasley maybe a brilliant Keeper...(but) captainship is a whole another scenario. Leadership is not hereditary...I will always give my best to this team, but I hope (she) knows what she is doing."_

 _But looking on the opposite side, we have Albus Potter, who seems to be walking on his brothers' footsteps, running a tight ship with tough practices and endless hours of strategies and drills on the Quidditch Pitch with his teammates. Potter has played the Seeker position on the Slytherin team since his First Year, the first player to have had that opportunity since Harry Potter, one of the most well known wizards of history, and also his father. Captainship seems to be a birthright of Potters, as Al Potter is the fourth Potter to have earned the honour in the last fifty years of Hogwarts History. The Middle Potter (as nicknamed by Hogwarts population) although a fine Seeker in his own right, has big shoes to fill in that context. Will he be able to do that? His teammates seem to think so._

 _We had the opportunity to get some latest news out of some of the tightlipped players of Slytherin team this week. Roman Nott, one of the best Beaters on the pitch right now, seemed quite positive: "Potter is alright. A bit of a slave driver. But that is exactly what we need right now with stakes this high."_

 _There were a few accusations of showing favouritism in the Slytherin tryouts by their rookie captain, seeing as how his team comprises of several of his band of best friends, including the Nott twins Roman and Barthlomew (Beater), Scorpius Malfoy (Keeper) and Coraline Humphrey(Chaser). It was firmly denied by one of his housemates, saying, "Albus is not like that. He knows Quidditch better than most, and (is) loyal to his team." A complaint about this was filed to Sylvain Provost, Head of Slytherin House. But it is unknown how the matter is being handled._

 _There is already a lot of buzz going around with these famous names (also cousins) connected with the first game this year. Expectations are higher than usual and the excitement is palpable. However, only time will tell what becomes of these rookie captains and their teams._

 _-Terrence Macmillan, Sports Editor._

Only on closer look would one be able to tell that Rose Weasley was having a sudden surge of anger at that very moment, in the middle of the library, shaking slightly, clutching the wretched draft copy of _Herald_ in her hands. It was no secret that the _Herald_ had been on her case since the moment she set foot in Hogwarts. The school paper had started a decade ago to give Hogwarts students an opportunity to hone their capabilities as future journalists. It was a good effort on the teachers' part, but in reality it was nothing but an official memo of Hogwarts gossip, in Rose's opinion. But then again, she wasn't a fan of newspapers in general. Aversion of newspaper came naturally with being the progeny of a war hero and a war hero turned Minister of Magic.

Beside her, Amelia Claufield was hissing at Lily Potter, to which the younger girl replied with an eye roll and a huff. Lorcan Scamander stayed quiet, buried in his Divination homework. Although he knew that his peace wouldn't last. Lily Potter was notorious that way. She made noise wherever she went.

"Are you out of your bloody mind, Lily?! We decided not to show this to her!"

"Oh, please. Do you think she won't find out when this comes out? Don't be naïve, Amelia. Everybody reads the Herald these days."

 _"SEXIST!"_ Rose whisper-yelled (which only she could do), finally coming out of her haze of anger.

"Quiet in the library, please!" came Madam Leroy's stern voice from the Recreational Reading section.

" _He_ says that I put more girls on the team, and _I_ am the sexist!" Rose said, with a bit more whispering and a bit less yelling.

At this, Lorcan shut his book with a bang and glared at his friends, who in his opinion, were being ridiculous.

Amelia looked at him with quiet apology, and said, "It doesn't matter what he says, Rose. You are captain for a reason. I'm sure you-"

"Macmillan is an idiot, Rosie." Lily interrupted Amelia with an air of finality. "He is an idiot with a quill, and he has made it his mission to create gossip. Not the good kind, either."

Lorcan snorted incredulously. _When is gossip ever good?_

Lily threw him a filthy look. "Did you need something, _Scamander_?"

"Some quiet would be good." Lorcan said, raising his right eyebrow.

But Rose was on a roll now. "Well, he shouldn't! I didn't do anything, Lily! I have been doing a way better job than that git McFee. And I have done everything in my power to-"

"Maybe you should worry more about the match instead of the article." Amelia said, giving Lily an accusing glare as if to tell her what a bad idea it was to show Rose this draft.

"Look. If you want, I can talk to Malfoy about not printing this. He is the editor, and he kind of tolerates me because of Albus. He might listen." Lily said. "He probably doesn't even know what Macmillan wrote."

"Oh, please. Of course Malfoy knows. He knows everything. Speaking of which, does _Albus_ know what his dearest friend is printing behind his back?" Rose ground out.

"I haven't got to Al yet. And believe me. Scorpius doesn't know about this. He likes to stay away from the Sports section. Says it will be a 'conflict of interest' or something. And besides, you're always vilifying poor Scorpius. He isn't that bad."

"Well, _poor_ Scorpius is getting his _stupid_ arse kicked, that much I can tell you," Rose said with earnest determination.

Leroy chose that particular moment to appear at their table out of nowhere, "I have had enough of your noise this evening!," she yelled. "This is not your common room. If you are so determined to talk, you may get out of my library."

"But Madam Le-"

" _Out,_ Weasley! All of you!" Then as an afterthought, "You may stay if you wish, ."

"Well, talk about favouritism!" Lily fumed. "What that old bat did was worse than what they are accusing Albus of doing!"

"It isn't a secret that everyone loves Lorcan, Lil." Rose said.

"I can't believe she kicked us out. I have never been kicked out of _anywhere_ before. Never." Amelia was still in shock as they walked towards Gryffindor Tower.

"Hah. You poor darling. Welcome to the club." Chorused the other two.

"Remember how we got kicked out of that muggle ice cream shop when we went to France? It was wicked..."

Thus, Lily went on describing the various misadventures with her cousins. But Rose was lost in her own thoughts. She was still processing the whole article fiasco. One would imagine that she should have been used to being splashed on newspapers by now. It came with being a Potter or a Weasley. But she wasn't as skilled as Lily, who had the ability to spin things around in her favour, one of the reasons why the latter had a definite future in journalism. It still bothered Rose every time she read her name mentioned anywhere in Daily Prophet or Witch Weekly. That was why she was one of the very few students who didn't get the Prophet at all. Rose knew that it was the coward's way of handling a situation, but she never claimed to be brave anyway, no matter which house she was in. If there was anything major happening in the world, she would hear it from her mother's advisors, seeing as how it was "essential that she kept her opinions to herself" on any subject to avoid controversy. It wasn't a secret that the media in the magical world was as brutal as it is in the muggle world. And they were always hungry to know what Rose wore to her mother's gala, where she spent her summers, who her friends were, updates on her dating life, how many OWLs did she get, what she thought about the latest inquisition against the Goblins, whether she was in favour of helping muggles control the global warming situation or not and what not.

No, thank you. Rose Weasley was quite happy not knowing about the everyday happenings of the world, not stating her own thoughts. It helped her keep her peace of mind. Macmillan was threatening that peace and she needed to do something about it.

It had been less than a month since his sixth year at Hogwarts had started, and already Scorpius was buckling under all the pressure. He didn't like it one bit. As if being a prefect and a Qudditch player wasn't enough, he was compelled to handle the position of the chief editor of _Hogwarts Herald,_ thanks to the headmistress. It had come as a note with his Hogwarts Letter, from Professor Longbottom, who handled any _Herald_ related decisions, albeit a little reluctantly:

 _Dear ,_

 _I am happy to inform you that you have earned the position of the Chief Editor of_ Hogwarts Herald _this year. I am quite certain that you will perform your duties satisfactorily. Please do not hesitate to write to me if you have any questions._

 _Regards,_

 _Neville Longbottom._

His mother, who was the chief catalyst in making Scorpius apply for the position in the first place, was beyond ecstatic. "I am quite certain that nobody deserves this position more than you do." Astoria had gushed then. "I am so proud of you, my dear." His father had smiled in quiet approval. And their reaction was reason enough for Scorpius to buck up and add this to his already towering responsibilities.

But that was then. He didn't know that Sixth year was going to be so tough. He had imagined it to be a buffer between OWLs and NEWTs. But instead, with all the homework piling up, Prefect duties, Quidditch and the wretched _Herald,_ he was going positively mad.

This wasn't the moment to worry himself with all of that. If he kept this up, it was only a matter of time that his captain will notice that his head really wasn't in the practice. Albus was already yelling at someone for some time now. It was pretty common during practice. Albus was always yelling these days. The only thing that ever extricated an apparent display of intense emotion from an otherwise passive and introvert Albus, was Quidditch. The fact that he was overshadowed by his brother's Quidditch prowess didn't help the matter much, either. He was constantly in the effort of trying to prove that he was better than James and that was his only flaw; his only flaw in failing to realize that unlike Scorpius, he really didn't need to prove anything to anyone. Unlike Scorpius, he had a father who was a hero, untainted by the shame of wrongdoings in his past. Scorpius, who had endured unpleasant whispers and filthy looks in the streets and in the school, because he was the heir to a prominent Death Eater dynasty.

It was only a moment later when Scorpius realized that the recipient of these particular yells was him.

"WHAT?"

"I SAID, BUCK- OH, NEVER MIND! JUST BE _HERE,_ SCORP!"

"I AM, YOU DOLT!"

But Albus never responded because he was rapidly descending his broom to the ground level, towards a figure with a mane of long flaming hair that kept on flying in their face. Scorpius ignored this, knowing that it was one of Al's pack of cousins. They had a habit of turning up during practices from time to time, particularly the younger ones. Albus was sort of the family listener. Whenever anyone was in need of some furious venting and some advice, Albus was the person they'd seek out. And much to Scorpius' astonishment, Albus loved it. But as Scorpius drove closer to the pair, he realized that it wasn't Lily, or Molly, or Lucy for that matter. It was Rose.

 _Of course, it was her._

And her public display of anger had gathered quite an audience as a few of their teammates were now on the ground huddled not too far from the Human Hippogriff and poor Albus. Albus seemed to have realized that at the exact same moment as Scorpius, because he was now dragging Rose toward the door to the locker rooms.

After a moment of speculation, Scorpius decided to follow the two of them. This situation called for Albus being rescued by his best mate.

"This is demeaning, Al. Not to mention untrue!" Rose was whispering and waving a peace of parchment in Al's face furiously.

"Look, Rosie. I'll talk to Scorp if you want me to. But its honestly not-"

" _Don't._ Don't say it is not that bad," Rose said. "I think its even worse from your perspective. And your _friend_ -"

"His friend _what,_ Weasley?" Scorpius said, finally deciding to chip in. "What is going on here?"

"Malfoy," After recovering from the surprise, Rose acknowledged him with a cool gaze, and went, "I never thought I'll ever say this, but I was actually looking for you."

Albus muttered something in exasperation as Weasley thrust the same parchment that she had been clutching like it were the Devil's creation in his face. She had always been a rather feisty bird, Rose Weasley. It was a prerogative for redheads to be in possession of violent temper, but this one took it to a whole another level. Funny thing was, if you asked anybody else except Scorpius about Rose's disposition, you would hear all things good, like how compassionate she was, how respectful she was to her teachers, how _quiet_ she was. To him, she had always been _loud._ Blaringly loud. In appearance, and in personality as well. Just like she was screaming one thing or other in his face at that very moment, her cornflower blue eyes wide and wild. Apparently the wind was in favour of her temper tantrum, because it was blowing her hair all wild around her head, like a halo of an angry goddess. Yes, a goddess. Scorpius may think of Rose Weasley as a horrid bitch with anger issues, but he never said that she wasn't a beautiful bitch. It was a complete waste of beauty, if you asked him. But Scorpius being who he was, had never actually reciprocated with these insults whenever Rose had done the same to him. He saw all that beneath him. And that was the difference between Albus and Scorpius. The former chose quiet as a medium for the other person to speak, while the latter chose quiet as a form of dismissal towards unnecessary conversations. Even now, when Rose was yelling, he stood there quietly, waiting for her to run her course.

"-think that your little editor position gives you the right to slander people, then I think you have got the job description in a thoroughly wrong sense!"

"I get that you are upset, Rose. But you are overreacting now," Albus said with a sigh.

"No, Albus," Scorpius said calmly, as he skimmed through the parchment, which was apparently the Sports page for the next edition of the blasted _Herald_. "Let her finish."

Rose breathed in deeply, as if to abate her anger, threw a glare at Albus, and then started quietly, yet firmly, "Look. I am aware that you didn't write this. Lily told me that it was Macmillan. And you should know better than giving him anything to write. I don't know where you came up with the idea of asking people like him and Skeeter to write for your precious paper."

Scorpius didn't, either. But he chose to ignore that little jibe of Rose's, and read on. Rose remained surprisingly quiet through it.

"Lily?" Scorpius said at last, raising his eyebrows at Albus, then said to Rose, "What _Lily_ needs to understand is that it is her _job_ to keep it to herself and not show it around to her parade of cousins when she pleases," Then quickly added, "No offense, Albus."

"None taken," Albus snorted.

"And what _you_ need to understand is that I do _not_ handle the Sports page due to conflict of interest. I am sure you understand such a concept. Or perhaps you don't. Regardless, I don't see what the problem here is."

"What the- what the _problem_ is?" Lily said incredulously. " _Are you bleeding daft, Malfoy?_ Did you hear _anything_ I just said?"

"Yes, your displeasure is quite loud and clear. But tell me, what makes you think that what's written here is anything _but_ petty gossip? I thought you would be immune to such things by now."

Rose fumed quietly.

"Why are you really offended by this? Are you actually nursing a feminist cause hidden inside your fuzzy little heart? Is that why you chose the players you did?"

"Okay. That's enough, Scorpius. Don't go there." Albus said warningly.

"Of course, not," Rose said. "I would never sabotage my team for my own kicks. What kind of a person do you think I am?"

"I don't think of it at all. But that's not what we are talking about here," Scorpius continued calmly. "What I am trying to make you understand is, if it isn't true, it shouldn't bother you. I thought you were above everything petty and mortal."

Rose chose to ignore that little jibe. "So, are you saying that you won't make MacMillan take it down?"

"I didn't-"

"Because that means, you don't care about Albus, either," Rose said with a sardonic smile on her face, "What happened to you and your passionate claims of friendship?"

At this, an angry red seemed to seep into Scorpius' otherwise pale face, funnily enough matching his skin to Rose's. But before he could verbalize his anger, Albus beat him to it.

"That's it! I've had it with you two! Rose, you are being a drama queen. If you had ever tried to pay even a little bit of attention to what they usually write in the herald, you would know that nobody care a whit about what Macmillan writes. He is more of a joke." Scorpius nodded appreciatively and started to something, but Albus cut him off with, "And _you!_ What has gotten into you, mate? You were goading her! I expect at least one of you to behave like the good people I know you are! I am tired of being in the middle of your little playground spat! Why do you hate each other so much?"

Rose and Scorpius were looking at a pacing Albus with awe now. None of them said anything for a minute.

Then Scorpius decided to break the silence with, "Is that a rhetorical question?"

"This really isn't the time, man," Albus said with a resigned expression. "Look, I have to go. Supper must have started by now and Quidditch makes me hungry," and left with a, "Bye, Rosie."

But Rose didn't say anything. In fact, she hadn't said anything at all during Al's monologue. That was uncharacteristic of her, according to Scorpius. But at that moment, Rose Weasley's uncharacteristic behavior was the least of his problems. He needed to get to Albus and apologize as soon as he could. An Angry Albus was bad, but an angry and disappointed Albus was worse. It made Scorpius feel like he had felt when he had broken his mother's favourite vase with a quaffle as a child.

"Are you bloody _mental,_ Malfoy?" Rose screeched suddenly.

 _Alas, all good things must come to an end. Even a quiet Rose._ Scorpius thought.

"'Rhetorical question'? Really?What is wrong with you?"

"Look, it's an inside joke, alright? I thought it would cheer him up!"

"Well it didn't, did it?" Rose spat. Then added, "God! I have never seen him so _angry_ before! I mean, he's _Albus!"_

Well. Apparently Weasley had reached the same conclusion. But she still had some venting left to do, as she apparently continued with, "It's all my fault. I should never have come here. I don't even care about the stinking Herald."

"No, it isn't."

As if she had forgotten about Scorpius' presence, she looked at him with astonishment, "What isn't?"

"It's not your _fault,_ Weasley. At least not entirely. I provoked you, too."

Rose looked even more surprised at this. Malfoy was not known for accepting his mistakes. But before she could say anything, the door banged open, and in came the Nott boys followed by Humphrey and the boy Rose liked to call The Buzz Cut.

"Well, this isn't the love fest I was expecting it to be," came the gravelly voice of who Rose thought was probably Bartholomew Nott. "Seriously, you two. Do something about your sexual tension."


	2. Chapter 2: Of Truces and Book Thieves

"Down, Bart," Roman Nott said quietly, then turned towards a very red Rose and a very pale Scorpius, "I tried to stop him from getting in here, but he rarely ever listens."

"'S alright, Rome. Everyone knows what a _brat_ he is anyway," Scorpius said.

"Shut it, Palefoy. You know I'm right. When Albus ran out of here as if his tail was on fire, we thought he'd been kicked out by the two of you. You know what I mean. " Bart said, then added to Rose with a smirk, "So, Weasley. Tell us. How scared are you after seeing our practice? Do you think your gang of girls can beat us?"

Humphrey hit him on the back of his head at this, which quieted him instantly.

But Rose wouldn't go quietly. "I am not going to dignify that with a response, Nott. You will see for yourself during the match."

"Okaaaay," Scorpius trailed before Bart could argue more, and pushed Rose out of the door by her shoulders. "Weasley will be going now, won't you?"

Rose just glared at him in response.

But right before closing the door in her face he whispered, "We'll talk tonight during patrol."

***  
By the time Albus reached the Great Hall, he had lost his appetite.

Well. Not really. He was still hungry. But it was a selective hunger. More inclining towards a craving for something sweet. Nobody would be able to guess it at first glance at him, but Albus' sweet tooth was legendary in the family.

Fetching his stash of Honeydukes and the care package of cookies he got from Grams, Al headed towards the place where he was sure he wouldn't find anybody else lurking around.

Nobody, not even James when he was at Hogwarts, had figured out the fact that the Room of Requirement, the mythical part of this old place their father often used to speak of, had reappeared. Albus had discovered it one night when he had a nasty row with James over the questionable owner of a pair of shoelaces and chocolate caudrons, and had stormed off to nowhere with his Invisibility Cloak. He had desperately wished for _"a place where I could get away from everything and everyone"_ , and voilà, there it was.

Albus stood still under his cloak, at the place where the Room usually appeared for him, and quietly let the magic float through him, wishing for the same: _"take me to a place where I could get away from everything and everyone."_

He loved this secret little slice of heaven he had all to himself. Over the period of last year, he had moved his muggle record player (a gift from his Dad) and all of the records that he had collected over the years to this room. Here he could enjoy it without James and his James-ness, and Lily constantly trying to get into his room to chatter and make him play Exploding Snaps with him. There was a comfy chair, a bed, a desk and the best part- an illusion of sunlight or moonlight constantly reflecting from the window that had a view of a place he had never seen before, but frequently visited in his dreams: a meadow of flowers with a river runing by; horses and squirrels and little bluebirds existing in that green wilderness in perfect harmony. Often the seasons would change from that window depending on Albus' moods.

For instance, today he was expecting it to be a cruel winter. Or a rainstorm. He _was_ angry, after all. Angry at a lot of people; Bart who wasn't taking practice seriously, that sodding Macmillan who had made it his mission to spew shite about Albus in the blasted Herald into his personal mission, Professor Provost for taking his sweet time in giving him permission to intern at the auror department for the mandatory summer rotation next year, Rose who believed that he didn't care enough about the whole Herald issue and hence was driving the crazy train taking Albus along with her, Scorpius who was fueling Rose's said crazy train and also zoning out in practice, Lily for being a generic brat, and of course, the Potter legacy that just won't leave him be.

Yes. Albus had issues. Contrary to popular belief, he had his own stress. But neither his family nor his friends seemed to grasp that fact. Even Scorpius, the one relationship that set him apart from everything that defined him as a replica of Harry Potter, had been acting weird since the term had started.

Albus shook his head in resignation and decided to concentrate on the task at hand. The Room was taking its time today. He chanted his mantra again for a few times. And it finally clicked.

When he opened the door, all of his imaginations about the window's view were forgotten. Because what he saw was something he would never have guessed:

The only light im the room was coming from the fireplace and the full moon outside the window. Sufjan Stevens' record was playing softly. His comfy chair had been moved closer to the fireplace, and on that chair was a girl, curled up in fetal position, fast asleep, with Albus' copy of _Love in the Time of Cholera_ open in her lap, and a pair of black rimmed glasses perched on top of the book. He wanted to wake her up immediately and demand for an explanation. But as he moved closer, what worried him the most, was that she seemed quite at home in that chair, with her robes discarded on the bed, her Hufflepuff tie hanging loosely from her collar, her hair in a long blond braid resting on her left shoulder with a curl floating freely at her nape teasing the pulse in her neck, her soft mouth parted a little. It was safe to assume that this wasn't her first time in this particular version, Albus' version of the Room. His stolen copy of Oliver Twist and Arcade Fire's Funeral record made so much sense now.

He had seen her around and he hadn't been able to forget her. It wasn't because she was beautiful. She _was_ a beautiful girl, but there was something else. Albus remembered her being there in one of their Herbology lessons with Hufflepuff, when she was cowering behind Neville's fresh batch of Lavender. And the other time when she was talking to Bart Nott near in the Courtyard during lunch. When Albus had asked him about her later, Bart had replied with a very uncharacteristically curt, "No one."

"Yes, I will go," the Mystery Girl mumbled, making Albus jump in surprise.

"No, Helen. Centaurs don't fly.."

Albus smiled a little, realising that she was talking in her sleep. He decided to abort his plan of waking her up. Instead, he removed his shoes and socks and hopped on the bed with his sweet stash.

"I can take care of myself. I am not a baby."

This was followed by another, "No. I don't want strawberry ice cream. Tastes foul."

Albus laughed at that, shoving a truffle in his mouth. This was better than television.

"No, you eat it, Bart. Marry it if you want to."

That sobered Albus up. There was definitely some connection between Bart and the Mysery Girl. Maybe he will ask Scorpius. He knows everything about everything..

***  
Scorpius waited for Albus till 8:15 in the Slytherin common room. Albus was a no show here, too. Where had he gone off to now?

Scorpius didn't have much time though. If he didn't leave for his patrol, he was pretty sure that Weasley will bite his head off.

But he was proven wrong when Rose merely sighed at Scorpius' late arrival and greeted him with a dull, "You wanna take the North side today?"

When Scorpius looked on in confusion, she said very slowly in a tone that Scorpius' mother often took with his four-year-old sister, "Or I could go North if you aren't feeling up for it."

"Actually, I was going to suggest that maybe we should patrol together tonight instead of dividing it."

After a moment of contemplation and a slight sense of paranoia, Rose said."Okay."

They walked around the castle, catching a first year and a couple of unsuspecting lovers on the third floor. Much to Scorpius' amusement, Rose made a point of lecturing the culprits of the importance of curfew and school rules after deducting points.

Neither Rose nor Scorpius attempted to vreak the silence that was present like a third person all this time.

But as they turned the corner of the East wing on fifth floor, Scorpius decided that he'd had enough.

"You know that we need to talk, right?"

Rose didn't say anything at first. Then she murmured a reluctant, "I know."

"Albus is really angry."

"I know."

"Albus _never_ gets angry."

"I know."

"We need to do something about it."

"I-"

" _Yes, you know."_ Scorpius scoffed. "Tell me. Is this some Gryffindor tick of yours? I mean I am all hearts for your house- don't get me wrong- but I have exactly _this much_ patience left in me right now, which you are threatening to blow up into bits and pieces." he said with his index finger and thumb a milimeter from each other held against Rose's face, demonstrating said patience.

That must've really offended Rose, because she swatted at Scorpius' hand and seethed, "What do you want me to say, Malfoy? That I don't care about how I am the reason why Albus got angry in the first place? How much it hurts him everytime we fight? How despite being the most pragmatic 16 year old, he still wishes for you and me to become best of friends? How difficult it actually is for us to have so much as a civil conversation?"

"And whose fault is _that,_ Weasley? I tried to be your friend on that very first day on the train! You were the one who decided that I wasn't worthy of your precious friendship!" Scorpius' uncharacteristically loud voice came to an abrupt halt.

He had resented Rose for disregarding him on the train by dragging Albus away from him when he tried to speak with them on the first day. Retrospectively speaking, it wasn't that big a deal, but even a tiny incident could make a major impact on a child's mindset. And Scorpius, who had been conditioned by his father into expecting hateful behavior from his peers because of his family name, it was especially difficult to figure out people's motives. Draco Malfoy wasn't a cynical man, contrary to popular belief. But his own mistakes had taught him a lot. And even though he didn't want it to affect his son, he didn't believe in feeding his children any false hope of being welcomed with open arms by anyone. He was a hard realist, and much to his kind amd soft hearted wife's resentment, he had made a point of drilling harsh lessons in his son's mind. That was why Scorpius had a keen sense of right and wrong when it came to people and their motives. He knew that despite being an unbearable shrew, Rose Weasley was _good._ It was just that, the unbearable part always seemed to win. She probably wasn't acting on family hatred like he had initially believed. It was something entirely else.

"Why is it you hate me so much anyway? It is _you_ who has always picked fights with me, _you_ who makes it a point of taunting me and cutting me off during class. Half the time I don't even retaliate. I have no patience for your petty behaviour. But don't you think you are over doing it?"

Rose seemed to have lost her power of speech because Scorpius' honest confrontaation had thrown her off her game. She stared at him with wide eyes, thinking of a way to reply. After composing herself into somewhat a sensible human, she quietly srarted, "When we came to Hogwarts, I had only one friend- Albus. We had been thick as thieves since we were born. Did you know that we had even spent some time in the same crib as babies when my mother was too busy to be around?" Rose said with a smile. "Albus was always kind. Even then. Kind and honest and loyal and sweet. James enjoyed teasing me to tears, stole my toys, tugged my ears- said they were so soft that he couldn't resist. James was a menace even then. But not Albus. We used to do everything together. Even got our Hogwarts letter together when we were having breakfast at his house. He was my best friend. He was my best friend and you took him away."

"What-"

"Please let me finish, Malfoy. It is already taking a lot of my pride admitting this to you."

That quieted Scorpius.

"I know that it sounds petty. I know that its not your fault. But I am not the most accepting person, alright? Its hard for me to change my opinions. And you beating me in every single class hasn't helped, either."

"What are you on about? You're better than me in Charms."

"But you are better at everything else! And my dad told me to beat you in every test or he would be disappointed! And I am doing a terrible job at it because even Calista Boot is ahead of me in Potions! And I have this feeling rivalry against you because of that and I don't know how to be civil to you anymore okay?" She finished, trying to catch her breath.

It was Scorpius' turn to get stunned. Then said, "That is stupid, Weasley. I hope you know how ridiculous you just sounded." As an afterthought, he added, "Your _dad_ told you to beat me at every test?"

Rose sighed, "He was joking. He does that all the time."

"Okay, look. This conversation is going nowhere, Weasley. We are making it about us, but its not about us. Its about Albus and we need to find a way to be civil. And before you say anything about the Herald Debacle, its been sorted."

"I agree. Even if it is going to be hard."

"Its going to be so hard."

"No more fighting."

"We try to be as cordial as possible."

"Even say hello when we can."

"Yeah. That could help."

"Truce?"

"Truce."

They shook hands on it, and started walking agin in pleasant silence.

"That doesn't mean we are friends." Rose muttered.

"Whatever you say, Weasley."

But as they reached fifth floor east corridor, they heard some noise coming out of the broom closet, it could have been the usual (young lovers), but it suspiciously sounded more like sobbing than sounds of pleasure.

Scorpius and Rose quieted down and with a careful creek, Rose opened the door.

***  
Albus woke up from a dream where Macmillan got kicked by a flying Centaur, disoriented and confused. He tried to see through his sleep induced haze and realised that a wand was touching his nose. Bringing his glasses to their proper position, he glanced at the beautiful, and currently very scared owner of the wand, and everything from the last...some hours ago came rushing back to him.

Big blue eyes blinked at him once. Then twice. Then they narrowed into slits. And the owner of those eyes said, "What in the name of Helena are you doing here, Potter?"

Albus chose not to reply. He stared at her for a moment, taking her in. She looked like a little kitten who pegged herself a lion. It was all so surreal. Albus rarely got such a strong reaction out of people. Generally people got mesmerised by his gentleness and spilled their life stories to him within moments. But this barely five feet two inches of a girl was a rarity.  
Albus sat himself into a better position and stood up slowly, trying not to startle her. She stepped back a little as Albus towered over her.

"The better question is what _you_ are doing here. This is my place."

 _"No. Its not," the girl huffed. "It's nobody's place. It belongs to the castle, remember?"_

When Albus didn't reply, she went on with, "And besides, I was here first. So, first come first serve, Potter."

Albus sighed with resignation, and started picking up the clutter she had caused, placing _Love in the Chopera_ right next to _One Hundred Years of Solitude_ , andmoved on to put back his Sufjan Stevens record on its place.

As he finally started cleaning his record player, Mystery Girl had lost her patience because she suddenly said, "Why are you touching my stuff? Are you a neat freak or something?"

"I don't like _my_ stuff scattered around all over the place. Or disappearing from the place I left them last, for that matter," Albus said pointedly.

She seemed to have realised the truth, as she said, " _You're_ A.P.."

Albus looked at her and huffed, "No shit."

Obviously caught in her lie about 'her stuff', she turned a bit red out of shame, and said, "Look I'm sorry, okay? I thought the books and the musical contraption were a part of this room. I didn't know that you put them here, or even you were _ever_ here _at all._ Its just that..its ju-"

"So lovely abd peaceful that you feel like never leaving?"

"Yes!" The girl exclaimed with delight. "And...ilikeyourmusictoo." she added hurriedly.

"What?"

"Erm, you have a good taste in music. I like it a lot. And the books, too," she was blushing a bit now.

"Who are you, anyway?" Albus asked curiously."I have seen you around, sometines during our Herbology class and once with Nott."

The girl snorted humourlessly at that, moved towards the door and said, "Barty? Isn't he one of your friends? Why don't you ask him?" And with that, she stormed off, leaving Albus dazed.

***  
"Umm, Louis? Are you alright?"

Louis looked up from his awkward sitting position. It was odd seeing the tall, beautiul, blond Head Boy crying in a broom closet at this time. Rose's face got etched with worry at seeing tears running down his face. His blue eyes were swollen and full of sorrow.

"What happened to you, Louis?" Rose asked again, her tone gentler this time.

Louis stood up, trying to wipe his face with his shirt sleeve, when a handkerchief appeared towards him from behind Rose.

Despite the gravity of the situation, that made Rose smile inwardly. Only Scorpius Malfoy, the peacock among all these boys of Hogwarts would keep a handkerchief like he were thirty years old.

Louis seemed to appreciate this gesture, though. Because he smiled at the other blonde with gratitude.

"If all the boys were like this one, I wouldn't be in this state." Louis manged to blurt at last.

"Oh, Louis. I'm sorry." Rose hugged Louis tight.

The Weasley family had taken Louis being gay with open arms. But that didn't mean that he was above others. He had a rotten luck with boys. And he always made the mistake of picking the dodgy ones.

"H-he said that he wasn't sure if he is g-gay. What does that even mean?" Louis sobbed.

"Well, bully for him then, Lou. Whoever that is. He is clearly an idiot." Rose said soothingly.

Scorpius just looked on with wide eyes while Rose abated Louis Weasley. It was surreal because the Head Botly was almost always annoyingly cheerful. Even making Prefect schedules made him ecstatic. Tonight he had learned two things:

1) Louis Weasley was not as happy as he always seemed.  
2) Rose Weasley could be almost bearable when she was nice.


	3. Of Secrets and Fist Fights

"Psst."

There was a slight stir from Scorpius' bed in response.

"Psst! Oi!" Came a frantic whisper next.

"Oi, Scorp, mate!"

"Whuhsit-" Scorpius sat up suddenly and looked around.

"No, I shall not slay any dragons for you!" Scorpius said, with his hand held up in his waker's face as if holding an imaginary sword.

Albus sighed and muttered under his breath as he caught Scorpius' hand, "Dreaming about birds and their demands again, you poor sod."

That must've woken up Scorpius some, because he sobered up a little and squinted at a slightly taller Albus. "What time is it?"

"Er, two?" Albus asked rather than telling.

"Then why are you psst-ing at me at bloody two?" Scorpius raised his eyebrows.

Albus shrugged in response, as if that answered the question. But when Scorpius' eyebrows almost disappeared in his hairline, Albus mumbled, "We needed to talk. I can't sleep."

"If what happened today weren't my fault, I'd have gladly broken your teeth for this." Scorpius grumbled. "Let's move this to the common room, shall we?"

Even in his sleep dazed stupor, it hadn't gone unnoticed by Scorpius that Albus was carrying his sweet stash around.

"How low did your supply go tonight?" He asked Albus, pointing at said stash.

"Awfully low." Albus aid, accusation clear in his tone and eyes.

Before Albus could say anything, Scorpius hastily said, "Look, mate. I'm sorry, alright. I didn't know that my squabble with Weasley bothered you that much. I'll keep it down from now on."

Albus jerked his head in a stiff nod. "And Macmillan?"

"Oh for Merlin's sake-" Scorpius muttered exasperatedly. "Macmillan's a git, Albus. And a fool. Nobody cares what he writes. And when has gossip ever bothered _you?"_

"Never! But I'm asking for Rose."

"We've talked about it. And she seems fine now."

" _You_ and _Rose?"_ Albus said, suppressing a smile.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, won't you."

"What did you talk about?" Albus said, trying- and failing, to feign disinterest.

"Nothing that you need to worry yourself over." Scorpius said vaguely.

"Right."

"Well. Was there anything else?"

"No."

"Alright, then..."

"There's-" Albus stopped abruptly.

When he failed to complete that sentence, Scorpius looked at him with a quizzical brow.

"Have you seen a blond moving around with Bart?"

"There are many people that fit that description, Al. You might want to be a little more specific," Scorpius snorted.

"Oh, no. It's not like that..."

"Like what? A girl, you mean? Because then, _I_ fit that description as well.."

"No, no. She _is_ a girl. But not the way you're implying. I mean, she is this very short girl. Often finds Bart to argue with him in between classes, hides behind plants...and she's a Hufflepuff." Albus finished.

"Argues with Bart, hides- I think I know who you're speaking of. And I am quite surprised you don't." Scorpius said with a sardonic expression on his face. "The better question is, why do _you_ care?"

Albus ignored his gaze, blushing furiously.

Scorpius' gray gaze widened to the size of saucers. "Oh, you've got to be joking- Albus, out of all the blonds that you could choose from, did it have to be Lola?"

"Lola? Is that her name?"

"Not really. It's actually Loralei. Stop smiling like a loon, and listen. Her name is Loralei _Nott._ "

"Wait what?"

"Yeah. That's the last and only female installment in the Nott Triplets."

"Wha-" Albus gaped at him. "They have a _sister?_ How?"

"Oh, Al. Hasn't had The Talk with you?"

"That isn't what I meant, you oaf. It's just that I've never heard of a third Nott. She seems so different. Doesn't even look like them."

"Yeah, that's not the only thing different about her."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Listen, Al. Don't mention Lola's name to the Notts. Especially, Roman. He is really prickly about her."

"That doesn't make sense. Sure, she's a bit loopy if you ask me, but why are they hiding her?"

"It's not my secret to tell, Al. Leave it. And if you want my advice, leave her alone, too."

Albus nodded absent mindedly. Scorpius knew that despite his warnings, Albus _won't_ leave her alone. For a guy who was considered the sanest and quietest among Hogwarts population, he was surprisingly nosy. Maybe it ran in the family. James and Lily were certainly nosy.

Scorpius decided to keep an eye on Albus. Never before would he have expected Albus to be the volatile one. It was an unspoken rule, that Scorpius was the suave troublemaker, prone to making mistakes. And Albus to be tge quiet strength that kept him geounded.

Things were changing around Hogwarts.

***  
The next morning found Lily Potter in a screaming match with one young in front of the Great Hall entrance.

"Well, if you knew _shit_ about writing a decent article, this wouldn't have happened, would it?" Lily seethed with enough venom to poison a Basilisk.

"You little brat! Just because your daddy is the _saviour,_ you seem to believe that you _own_ Hogwarts. Well, I've got news for you Lily _Potter_ : the magical community is a democracy. If you don't understand the difficult word, I'll tell you what it entails. It entails that I have the right to freedom of speech and I can write anything I want about any-"

"Freedom of speech," Lily was now nose to nose with Macmillan. "I'LL GIVE YOU FUCKING FREDOM OF SPEECH, YOU BLEEDING GIT!"

And with that Lily Potter threw a punch to Macmillan's nose, her fifth punch since her enrollment at Hogwarts.

By now, a considerable crowd had gathered around the pair, some of which were chanting a constant "fightfightfight".

But if it weren't for Lorcan Scamander lifting Lily off her feet and away from a now very angry and very bloody-nosed Macmillan, things could have gotten worse than they already were.

"Leave me be-"

"Don't be a child, Lily." Lorcan said against her ear.

"Let me be, Scamander! I'll draw blood today-" Lily hissed fiercely, narrowing her brown eyes at Macmillan, who was now being held back by the gangly Hufflepuff, Jerry Inglot.

"You already have, you idiot." Lorcan hissed back as he dragged Lily away to the nearest empty classroon and shifted Lily a little in his grip, bringing her at his eye level, which was difficult because Lily was practically tiny compared to Lorcan, who put his hand over her mouth.

"You've done your part, Lily. Now I want you to do me a favour." Lorcan murmured.

A very perplexed Lily nodded.

"Good girl," Lorcan said. "Now take a deep breath. And promise me that you'll stay quiet when I let you go."

Lily gave another nod.

"Alright." Lorcan said, slowly letting go.

Lily, being freshly liberated from Lorcan's death grip, and being...well, Lily, rammed her fist into Lorcan's chest in anger, and howled in pain, "Merlin on Mount fucking Everest, what do you eat? My hand!"

"You have a right filthy mouth, Lil, don't you?" Loecan muttered and began examining Lily's hand.

But before he could do anything else, Albus burst in with Rose in tow.

"What in the name of Salazar is up with you, Lil?" Albus said loudly.

"Do you know what you've done?" Rose chided.

Lily rolled her eyes. The lot of them were hypocrites. Albus sneaked off to Muggle concerts and James had ended up in detentions more than her rest of her family put together. Rose owned this quite a revealing (and sizzling hot) poster of Alexander Krum that only Lily knew about. And Lorcan...well, he had done..something, too! In short, all of them had dirt on them, but punch a bloke, and that's it. Suddenly you're the public enemy no.1. Nobody had to tolerate such discrepancies. Only Lily. The thought made Lily positively sour.

"Defended the pathetic lot of you, is what I did, dear brother." She wouldn't be Lily, if she didn't maintain her sass.

Albus huffed in response. So did Rose. Lorcan didn't join in this group huffing though. How curious.

"That's ridiculous, Lily. Not to mention unnecessary."

"Of course it's necessary. I know you and your friends. You, brother, would have chosen to stay quiet, leaving it in Scorpius' hands, who has zero interest in what runs on the Herald or Hogwarts, I don't know why. And Rose, well, everyone knows that she is all bark and no bite. I had to take things in my own hands. I can't let a git like Macmillan make a spectacle of you. I am on the Quidditch team, too, you know."

"Well, not for long, if you keep this up, Lil." Rose said.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, Neville wants to see you in his office, and he seemed pretty pissed when I saw him outside Great Hall." Rose said.

"Yeah, he saw the whole thing, Lily." Albus sighed.

"Alright, well that doesn't mean anything. He'll probably ask Old Filch to give me a bunch of trophies to clean. Big deal. Been there, done that."

"Yeah, well. I wouldn't bet on it. But let's hope you're right. For all of our sakes." Rose muttered.

"Alright, you lot," Albus said at last. "I want to speak with Lily if it's okay."

Lorcan threw a last glance at Lily, and left quietly with Rose, closing the door behind them.

"Look, Lil. I don't want to do it, but I have to. You've left me no choice."

"No. You _wouldn't._ "

"I'm afraid, I will, sister."

"Mum will be _livid,_ Al. She will make my life hell."

"You knew the deal before we came back this year. One more school fight, and you will be served the Potter Rule."

The Potter Rule was something Harry had created when James had started Hogwarts and showed obvious signs of troublemaking. That was the only tough aspect of Harry's parenting, who, much to Ginny's dismay was a little too soft on his children, particularly Lily. The rule was simple, and applied to all three children equally: They had to keep each other in line. If one of them fell out of line, the others would have to inform the parents of it, following which the said child will be forced to let go of one of their extracurricular activities for a month, and accept whatever chore Harry asked them to do at Hogwarts. It sounded awfully strict, but Harry was actually quite lenient on his punishment. He would give them laps around the pitch (and ask Neville to monitor) or cleaning Neville's greenhouses, or tending to Hagrid's pets...thigs like that, which no matter how mundane, made the Potter children miserable nonetheless. It was like detention by parents. But like any normal teenager, all three kids hated it, and did their best to avoid being in such situations.

Lily, with her violent tendencies mixed with her ever increasing sass had made her the new James of Hogwarts for the Potter parents. And the job of keeping Lily in check had fallen into capable hands of _Saint Albus_ (as christened by James).

 _It's not his fault he is so good._ Lily thought.

"Fine. Do what you want, Allie. I have to go and see Neville." Lily said hastily as she walked out.

Albus sighed. Sometimes he really hated being himself. Maintaining a normal relationship with Lily had become increasingly difficult for Albus and his mother. Lily had suddenly transformed into this brat who kept snapping at Ginny and giving Albus the evil eye every chance she got. She even went as far as screaming "I hate you!" at Ginny near the end of the Summer. She made Albus worry more than anything else, which was saying something, becausr Al had anlot to worry about already.

"Al?" Rose peeked from the door.

"We have to go now, mate." Scorpius peeked from behind Rose.

They both came inside, and Scorpius said, "Don't worry about Lily. She is tough."

"She violated a million rules today, including stealing somebody's article. Neville is not going to let her go easily. He might kick her off her team. You know how sensitive she is about Quidditch. I just- I just wish she'd at least tell me before throwing punches on my behalf."

"She is fifteen, Albus. I had to go through eight detentions when I was fifteen, remember? She will get over it. And you are not her keeper, you're her brother. You can't control every aspect of her life. Believe me, I'd know."

"Malfoy is right, Al. Leave it," Rose said, looking appreciatively at Scorpius. "Its my team. Let me worry about them. And maybe it will be good for Lily. Remember how much nicer James had become for a month when he had to leave off Quidditch and make an inventory of Potions section in the Library?"

Albus nodded absentmindedly. It was only after their first class had begun, when Albus realised that Rose had agreed with Scorpius. And it was then, that he had understood why Scorpius was humming as he added sandalwood roots to his potion.

After all, it had taken Scoroius six years to get any positive response out of his crush.


	4. Of Letters and Heart-to-hearts

_Lily,_  
 _I don't know why you think it necessary to hit boys at school, but you'd make your dear old dad very much happy by refraining yourself from doing so in the future._  
 _Having said that, I must add here how very disappointed I am in you, young lady. And so is your mum. You know the rule, Lil. You stir up trouble at school, you have to do as you're told for a month. Now I won't ask you to give up anything this time seeing how Neville has already done the job for me by suspending you from Quidditch. But I want you to go to the library everyday, even during each game and during your Hogsmeade weekend, study extra hard for that Potions test I know you have coming up, and at least attempt to get a respectable in it this time. Seek help from Albus or Rose if you need to. But, Lil. You must try. Neville will keep tabs on your progress._  
 _I love you, Lilybub. But sometimes you exhaust your old man so much._  
 _Be good. Eat your green vegetables. Tell Albus to write us soon. Tell him that we need to speak. Mum sends her love._  
 _Dad._  
 _PS: Go easy on Albus. He didn't have anything to do with this. Also, just so you know, things could've been much worse for you if I'd let mum handle this. So take time to remember James' howler and thank your lucky stars._

Lily sighed and held back the tears from falling. She missed her dad. Lily had lived alone with her parents for a whole year after Albus left for his first year, and that year had changed her so much as a child, because she had almost gotten used to being the only child around. And that gave her the opportunity to be spoiled rotten by her father as much as he could.

To say that Harry Potter was fond of his daughter would be a massive understatement. He had done everything for Lily which he had not had as a 10 year old. He had given his full attention to her for a whole year, something he couldn't give to James or Albus, because he was too busy. But since things were quieter at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, it gave Harry enough time to take Lily to her muggle school, her ballet class which she excelled in, her piano lessons, even some of her playdates with the muggle children who lived two streets away. Ginny taught all their kids how to play Quidditch, but only Lily knew how to ride a bike, because Harry had taught her how during that year. She was the only Potter child to have spend the most time with their father, something Albus resented her and Harry for.

She wasn't surprised by the letter's content. She had it coming. But she felt a slight pang of guilt, guilt that came from a part of her heart which harboured a deep seated desire to exceed her father's expectations in every way. But she brushed it off quickly, replacing it with a conscious feeling of righteousness. Macmillan deserved every punch he got and more. And if that gave her a few detentions and a Quidditch suspension, so be it.

As she left the Great Hall towards her first class, she opened the second letter that she had received today, written in crisp handwriting of James Potter.

It wasn't much of a letter as it was a note, containing only a few brief sentences that made Lily roll her eyes:

 _You make me proud, Little Lil. Keep up the good work. No matter what they say, sometimes you've just got to rely on your fists. Kick Allie's whiny arse for me for being such a wuss, making my sister fight his battles. Such a shame._  
 _Your Favourite Brother,_  
 _James Potter II_

James had begun calling himself James Potter II somewhere around three years ago. It was so pretentious and so James. She was extremely fond of her eldest brother, but if he weren't her brother, she might have given him at least a few kicks in the rear end by now, not that she had shown much restraint in the aspect. Kicking James under the table was her favourite game at home. But that was a story for another time.

Lily folded the letters carefully, and put them away in her pocket. Writing to her family required a sound mind, which she was not in possession of this particular morning. Halfway to her walk towards the class, she was joined by a very distraught Hugo Weasley, wheezing because of the dash he had to make in order to catch up with his cousin.

"You walk-" Hugo said, taking another hasty breath, "You walk mighty fast for being such a tiny little bird, Lily."

"What happened to _you,_ Hughey? Why are you wheezing like an old man?" Lily asked, then added as an afterthought, "And how many times do I have to tell you that girls don't like being referred to as 'birds'."

Hugo decided to ignore that last bit with a derisive swat of his hand. "I was trying to catch your eye since breakfast but you were too busy running away with your blasted letters. Here." He handed her a packet which looked frightfully foreign.

Lily raised a brow at him. "Well? What is it?"

The look that passed over Hugo's face made Lily highly suspicious. She had an inkling that she wasn't going to like what he had to say.

"It's a book. Give it to Lorcan when you see him." He said hurriedly, as he tried to evade a third year out of his way.

"What?" This was getting way past her power of comprehension.

"Right. Look I don't have the time to explain everyth- GET OUT OF THE WAY YOU LITTLE BUGGERS!" Hugo yelled at a group of younger students getting in his way. Then looked back at Lily,"I know you can't stand the bloke, and I would ask Rose to do it, but she is busy with Quidditch. Just give it to Lorcan when you see him in the library today, alright?"

"Why on earth would you think that I am seeing Lorcan in the library?"

"Of course you will! You have to go to the library till our Potions test, don't you? And it's not like you have to worry over tomorrow's match and stay for practice with-" he stopped abruptly, then said, "Look Lily. I am already late for Divination. And you have...somewhere to be too, right? Just give the bloody book to Lorcan tonight, and tell him that my mum sent it for him. I would do it but I have a Chess Club meeting tonight I cannot get out of." And with that, he went on with his running frenzy again.

What in the name of Merlin was that? And how did he even know about her Dad's punishment? Lily was beyond confused. And angry at almost everyone and everything at this point. It was barely 9 in the morning, and already her day wasn't looking any better.

She sighed and entered the class with a dejected expression.

***  
Things weren't much better in the DADA classroom of Sixth Years, either. Professor Provost had instructed them to write an essay on the Patronus Charm, since he was busy grading papers of first years.

There had been a collective sigh of relief by the students when they were informed that it won't be a practical lesson today, but a practice in improving their writing abilities. Fridays weren't a good day to study. Particularly not this one.

Scorpius kept on with writing his essay quietly, so did Rose on the other end of the room, albeit a bit less quietly as she noisily rummaged through her textbook and another extremely magnanimous tomb of unknown identity for some answers. Albus, however sat on his seat next to Scorpius, leaning back comfortably with his hands folded neatly over his parchment with a finished essay, brooding over Merlin-knew-what, but from the looks of it, it had something to do with Professor Provost. Behind Albus, Bartholomew Nott was snoring softly for the last twenty minutes, while Roman Nott was doodling an animated Flobberworm on his parchment. Stephano Zabini was admiring one Amelia Claufield with a peculiar expression on his face. Amelia Claufield, oblivious to being an object of observation to Stephano, was twirling a lock of her black hair around her quill absentmindedly as she gazed out of the window.

To say that it was a lazy and unproductive hour, would be an understatement. But to be terribly honest, that was always the case whenever there was a Quidditch match so close. The teachers knew better than to expect anything from their students, particularly Provost, who was the youngest of the teachers (only 28, as rumoured around by Hogwarts Herald), understood the Quidditch fanaticism quite well. He never attempted to burden his students when he knew that it would be a complete waste of his own time and energy. But his students saw this as some form of kindred-ship; a teacher after their own hearts. And Sylvain Provost loved his students and his job.

Although, as he heard one of his students sighing for the two hundred and twenty eighth time that day, he didn't feel the love for his job quite as ardently at that particular moment. He decided that it was time to wake this lot from their stupor.

"Alright. I had planned to wait till the hour was over to say this, but since it is quite clear that every single one of you would rather twiddle your thumbs and snore," he glared at Bart at this, "than go over one of the most important spells you will learn this year, I have decided to prepond my announcement." He paused and threw a careful glance at Albus before beginning again with, "As some of you may know, we are going to have a guest lecturer every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday over the next month starting ten days from now. All of you probably know him as the Saviour of the wizarding world, and-"

At this, a frantic murmur started around the room. Some of them even pointed towards Albus, who was looking paler by the second for some reason. Scorpius Malfoy was looking at his friend questioningly while swatting away Bart Nott's poking finger at his ribs. Rose Weasley had finally decided to close her books as she was now gazing in the general direction of the Slytherin boys with concern.

"SILENCE!"

After they were somewhat pacified, Provost began with, "Among other things, is coming to teach you the Patronus Charm. He is considered an expert on the subject. I learned from him in my days at Hogwarts as a student, and I cannot help but emphasise that this is a wonderful opportunity for you all; especially the students who wish to make a career as Aurors. I expect you to take full advantage of the knowledge he possesses and behave like the good young witches and wizards I know you are."

"Well?" Scorpius had tried to reign in the question as long as he could, but as the two boys made their way through the corridor, he decided that he'd had enough.

"Well, what?" Albus retorted with a very sore expression on his face.

"When were you going to tell me that your Dad was coming to school?"

"Never."

When Scorpius just raised his left eyebrow in response, Albus mumbled, "I didn't know he was coming at all, alright? Now leave me be. I have to find Lily."

Scorpius stood in the busy corridor, staring at his best friend's retreating form.

"What-" came a breathy voice from behind him. "What did he say, Malfoy?"

It looked like Rose Weasley had been running.

"Nothing. He went to find Lily." Scorpius said absentmindedly.

"Is he alright then?"

"I don't know, Weasley. But I think not." Scorpius sighed.

"Poor Albus. He must be feeling terrible right now."

***  
Terrible was not the only word he would use to describe his feelings. Betrayed? Yes. Neglected? Sure. Angry? Indeed. He knew that he had said things to his dad over the Summer that he wasn't particularly proud of, but he wasn't completely wrong. It upset him that Harry was still holding it against him. He hadn't wrote to Albus once since the start of the term.

 _But you haven't written to him, either._

No. He wasn't going to write. _Let him see how he hurt you when he comes to Hogwarts._

He didn't know where these antagonizing feeling were coming from. It was unusual for Albus Potter , but he ignored it and continued with the task at hand. After rummaging through all of Hogwarts, at last Albus found his sister sitting alone by the Black Lake under a tree, throwing pebbles in the lake, looking like her mind was elsewhere.

It wasn't a scene one would be presented with every day, because everyone who knew Lily Potter, knew this much about her: _she was never alone._ In fact you could always bet on her being surrounded by a gaggle of giggling girls; a factor that had always made it difficult for Albus to get to his sister.

"Mind if I sit here?" Albus asked nonchalantly.

Lily only shrugged in response, gazing intently at the waves made by the pebble that had just hit the water.

Albus made himself comfortable by resting his back against the tree trunk. Lily and her pebble throwing was still going on, so he decided to join her in that activity. And soon it turned into a silent game of who could throw the pebble farthest. At last Albus lost the game.

"You have a good arm there, Lil. Ever thought of playing Beater?"

"You and I both know that you let me win, Albus." Lily said dejectedly.

After that, neither of them spoke for a while. It was typical of Albus, Lily thought. He would do anything to make other people feel better, whether it was by losing a petty sibling game, giving them sweets or just plain listening to them. It often made her wonder why Albus couldn't get along with their dad. They were so much alike.

"I got a letter from Dad today." Lily broke the silence, "He said you didn't tell him about my detention."

"No. I didn't."

"Why? I thought you were keen on tattling on me, Al? Isn't that what you usually did with James? Telling on him every chance you got? Why stop now?"

"Is that what you think of me, Lily? That I _tattle_ on you guys? Because it is not true!" Albus exclaimed, hurt apparent in his green eyes behind his black rimmed glasses, then began quietly, "It was different with James. He teased me _relentlessly._ Making fun of me for being too tall, for being in Slytherin, for being friends with Scorpius, for being bad at _everything_ I did when I wasn't. I couldn't _stand_ it. And why should I? But I didn't want to stoop to his level. So I had only one choice for retaliation. I had to inform our parents of the tales of his heroics. I had to expose him every time he stirred up trouble. And I am not one bit sorry for that. He had it coming."

Lily was surprised to hear such a venomous statement coming out of Albus' mouth. The nice, quiet Albus. Everyone thought that of him. Sure, people were skeptical about him for being a Slytherin, something Albus was painfully aware of. People sometimes went so far as to judge him for being a spitting image of their father, and yet not having done anything remarkable to fit that profile. It was ridiculous. But to the people who knew him remotely well, he was the quiet boy. The secretive boy who kept to himself, played a bit of Quidditch, was brilliant at Defense Against the Dark Arts. A perfectly harmless boy, who always had a shoulder to cry on ready for whoever may need it, and yet refused to deal with his own issues. There were hidden depths to his quietness that were haunted by his own insecurities. Not many people knew _that_ about him. Not even everyone in their family. Albus' bitterness came out only for James for being such an arse, and for his father for being who he was. Nobody hated being a Potter more than Albus. But he had never been this upfront about it before today.

Apparently Al wasn't done yet as he again started with, "Look, Lily. I am sorry you feel the way you do, but I am not your enemy. I am your brother. And it's my responsibility to make sure that you stay out of trouble. Out of limelight. Because believe me, you don't want a bad reputation for yourself. Being an infamous Potter is worse than being a famous one. You don't know how hard it is living under constant scrutiny if you are different from what you are supposed to be. People won't ever let you forget who you are."

To say that Lily was a little out of her depth here would be an understatement. After a moment, she quietly said, "This is the most I've ever heard you talk, Al. I didn't know that you felt so strongly about all this."

Albus didn't say anything. He just looked at the lake blankly. A little bird flew touching the lake's surface, causing little ripples in the process.

"Is that why you hate Dad so much? Because of all the attention his name brings to you?"

"I don't _hate_ Dad, Lil. Why would you think so?"

"I heard your row with Dad this summer, Al. My room is right across from yours, you know. And since your voice has changed, you sound a lot _louder_ than you think you do."

Albus gave her a half smile at that. "Dad and I have our...disagreements, Lil. That doesn't mean I hate him. What I hate are the consequences of who he is. That doesn't mean that I blame him for it. How can I?"

Well. Lily wasn't so sure that Albus was very much conscious about his resentment.

"Then why were you fighting this Summer?"

"I thought we were talking about you, not me."

"Oh, come on. Stop being evasive. Tell me."

Albus rolled his eyes at Lily's unwavering insistence. "It wasn't what you think. We were fighting because...well," Albus hesitated, then decided that he needed to talk to someone about this. It might as well be his sister. "Do you know anything about the internship program?"

"Yeah. You have to take one in your choice of career right? James went to that Quidditch Summer camp two years back.."

"Yes, well. I wanted to do mine at Dad's office."

Lily didn't know that Al wanted to become an auror. But she decided not to comment on that. "Then why don't you go for it?"

"It's a bit complicated."

"Why?"

Albus remained quiet, as if to decide whether he should say something or not. But he must have felt that for once he was the one in need of a sounding board, instead of it being the other way around.

"Dad refused my application."


	5. Of Suspicious Sibling Activities

"WHAT?!"

Lily's loud exclamation startled a flock of birds sitting on a rock nearby.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Haven't the foggiest, Lily. Professor Provost is my advisor. According to him I should consider all my options. How many options do I have anyway? I don't want to play Quidditch my whole life like James. I know I am not that good. The only thing I am good at is Defense and Potions."

"Did Professor Provost explain what other options there are in his opinion?"

"He was really cryptic about it all. He did ask me to intern for Healer Harrington at 's." Albus frowned as he said that, then added, "It was like he was hiding something, like he knew the real reason why Dad rejected my application. The worst part is, Dad had probably made his decision all along during the summer, and still he wouldn't tell me about it. I couldn't ask him about it, and that is why we're fighting."

Lily tried to find some comforting words to say, but couldn't come up with anything.

"Can you still become an Auror if you do your internship somewhere else?" She asked at last.

"Yes. But the internship is a sure ticket to Auror Training Program."

"And are you sure that Dad has rejected your application?"

"He hasn't said anything directly, but Ted said that they decided on an intern. It isn't me. But he won't say who has got it, either. They offer only two spots each year, one for a boy and the other for a girl."

"Do you know who got it then?"

"The results don't come out till January. People are still applying for internships. There is time till November."

Lily sighed, "And here I was, crying over my OWLs. It seems like I don't have much to look forward to in sixth year, either."

Albus smiled at that. "How is that coming along, then? Thornton still giving you a hard time in Potions?"

"Ugh. Don't remind me of her. Or Potions, for that matter. Thornton's over-enthusiasm for her subject makes me want to barf. Speaking of which," She produced a letter from her robes and handed it to Albus. "Here. Look what Dad's asking of me because of the whole punching thing."

"I hate the Potter Rule." She mumbled as Albus skimmed through the letter.

When he was done, he looked up and said gently, "You are having a really hard time with this, aren't you, Little Lil?"

Lily snorted. "Yeah, well. I am still not sorry I hit that nutter."

"Even though he cost you your place in Quidditch?" Albus said nudging Lily with his shoulder.

"Nah." Lily shook her head. "I am secretly happy about it actually. I don't like Quidditch that much."

"Then why do you play?"

"I dunno...Because you do? James does, and so did Mum and Daddy?"

"That's nonsense. You shouldn't do everything we've done, Lily. Haven't you learned anything from me?" Albus wiggled his eyebrows playfully. "Being Slytherin and all?"

"Al, you hypocrite! You said you hated being special, not five minutes ago!" Lily punched him on the shoulder.

"Ow! You hit hard for a girl. You'll pay for that, _Lilybub!_ " And with that a never ending tickling match began.

"Don't call me that, Albus Potter!"

It went on for some time as the two Potters headed back to the castle, tickiling and jabbing playfully at each other. But both of them knew that that afternoon they had both made an ally, something that they had never felt before despite of living under the same roof since birth.

***  
Scorpius threw away his quill in exasperation and rubbed his eyes. It was just 7:30 in the evening and already he was tired. But he was stuck in the little office they used for all the work related to Hogwarts Herald. Thanks to stupid Herald and all the stupidity associated with it.

He didn't know how he was going to play Quidditch tomorrow. He stared at the letter opened in front of him. A letter from his father. A letter which had caused a week of sleepless nights for him. A letter he didn't know how to respond to.

 _Scorpius,_  
 _Your mother's illness has taken a more serious turn since last fortnight. We don't know what the outcome is going to be. Although I feel that its a bit too early for you to come home._  
 _She misses you. But she isn't able to write anymore. She sends her love._  
 _I hope your studies are going well. Keep up the good work. I will send an owl if there is any change in her condition, one way or another._  
 _Love,_  
 _Father._

How was he supposed to 'keep up the good work' after reading that? Why wouldn't he let him visit home? Why would he never talk about-

"Scorpius Malfoy!" Came a screeching voice from the doorframe, interrupting his thoughts.

"How _dare_ you!" Apple Skeeter fumed.

Scorpius groaned inwardly. But then, Apple Skeeter had that effect on almost everyone. No. It wasn't the same kind of annoyance as people felt for Macmillan. Apple wasn't short of a couple million brain cells like him. In fact, it was the opposite. Apple was a smart one. Except for her name, there was absolutely nothing laughable about Apple Skeeter. She was a serious girl. A Seventh Year Ravenclaw, Head Girl and the most active "reporter" of The Herald. In fact, she was the only one who had ever taken her job as the writer of Herald's History page. She wasn't happy when Scorpius was made Editor instead of herself. And she had held a nasty grudge against him ever since, and came up with complaints against Scorpius' editing abilities almost every week.

"Uh...you need to be a little more specific, Skeeter. What exactly did I do this time?"

"I don't need to tell you, _editor._ You know what you did."

"Actually. I don't."

"You removed content from my article, you nasty little bugger!" Apple had a very shrill voice, and it was threatening to make Scorpius go permanently deaf.

"Do you mean the part where you said that Bathilda Bagshot had an affair with Dumbledore?" Scorpius raised an eyebrow.

"Yes!"

"I removed that because its not true." Scorpius rolled his eyes and went back to the task at hand, i.e. reading through Macmillan's latest draft full of crap. He hated, _hated_ his life at times like this.

"Of course it is! Haven't you read his biography?" Skeeter apparently wasn't done though.

"And which one would that be, Apple? The one that your mum wrote? We can't rely on that now, can we?" Scorpius challenged.

"How can you say that? Are you accusing my mother of lying?" Skeeter's voice went an octave higher, as if that was even possible.

"I didn't say that. All I mean to say is, we are trying to write a piece in memory of Bathilda Bagshot as a celebrated author. Whether she had an affair with Dumbledore or the King of England is irrelevant."

Skeeter couldn't find anything to say in return. So she just went with her regular retort of, "I don't know what Professor Longbottom was thinking making you the editor. It's such a pity." And went her way.

"Well, I don't know that either." Scorpius said to the empty room as he rubbed his eyes in exasperation. Did he mention that he _hated_ this job?

"Malfoy!"

Scorpius looked up to see Louis Weasley lurking in the doorway, trying to catch his breath.

"Louis! Hullo," Scorpius smiled broadly at him and said gesturing towards the chair from across the table, "Take a seat, mate."

Scorpius liked Louis Weasley. Despite of the unkempt state he had discovered him in last week, he was one of the happiest people he knew. Louis Weasley was a good looking blond boy with violet eyes and a personality of a cute little puppy. Everybody loved him. You know how some people are born with a personality that just sings "Let Me Be Your Cheering Charm" by that witch Corrine Ballad who he had heard his dad listening to a couple of times at home when he thought nobody was listening? Yeah. That was Louis. And that personality often helped him make people do things he wanted them to do. Scorpius suspected that this was one of those occasions.

"Ah. You have such good manners, Scorpius. It's such a shame you're straight." Louis gave a toothy grin.

Scorpius grinned at that. It was so typical of Louis. It was an inside joke. He often flirted with Scorpius trying to embarrass him. But Scorpius remained unfazed. As always.

"Why, thanks, Louis! You are so kind." Scorpius raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, please. Stop distracting me, pretty boy." Louis scoffed, which was hilarious coming from a part Veela boy. "Listen, I need a favour from you. Will you patrol in my place tonight?"

Scorpius frowned at him. This was something he actually _didn't_ want to do. He had a match to play in tomorrow that he wasn't prepared for because of the emotional wreck that he had become.

"Can I ask why?"

"Look. I'm sorry. It's just that Skeeter and I have a meeting with the Headmistress in about an hour that I can't get out of."

"Well...its just that I have Quidditch tomorrow. And I am a little tired..."

Louis used his last weapon: Puppy eyes.

"Please?"

***  
Albus realised that the worry about the match was finally creeping up on him as he entered the Great Hall for dinner. He needed that win tomorrow. He needed something good at to happen to him at that moment.

There was a commotion going on over the Gryffindor table where Lily looked like she was interrogating a very annoyed Hugo who seemed to be doing his best to avoid his cousin, while little Lucy was trying her best to listen in on their conversation. Come to think of it, Albus didn't want to know what that was about. He had had enough of revelations to last a week. He went back to his mashed potatoes as Scorpius appeared in the seat next to him, looking thoroughly mad and sad about something. What a combination.

"I have to patrol tonight." He said through clenched teeth.

"What? You can't patrol! You need to sleep early!"

"It was Louis." Scorpius raised his eyebrows.

Albus sighed in response knowing all too well about Lou's power of persuasion.

"I'll go talk to him. Maybe he can get Hufflepuffs to patrol instead." Albus made to stand up.

"No!" Scorpius held Albus' hand to stop him.

"Why?"

"You can't really argue about it with him." Scorpius mumbled, going a bit red on his neck. "He asked Rose, too."

"Oh." Albus said, and suppressing a little smirk from slipping. "That makes sense. A bit."

"Yeah, well." Scorpius said, sounding as if he was done with that topic, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, and piling up his plate with a mountain of rice.

"Captain Albus!" Bart came sauntering towards where the other two boys were sitting and plopped himself next to Albus. "How are you feeling about daddy's imminent arrival?"

Bart wasn't a bad guy. Not really. But that didn't mean that he lacked mild assholish tendencies. And frankly, Albus wasn't his biggest fan, to be honest. People who were always so _on_ about everything usually made Albus suspicious. Bart was a perfect example of that.

"Well? Won't you say something to that? Hmm?" Bart smirked at a now very uncomfortable looking Albus.

"Shut it, Bart." Scorpius and Coraline said at the same time.

"Oh, come on, Cora! I was just..."

But Albus wasn't listening to their arguments as he spotted a certain blond Hufflepuff leaving the Great Hall in anger, Roman Nott following her close. After a few seconds of dilemma, he stood up abruptly and gathered his things.

"I've gotta go. Try not to stay up too late, Scorpius." He said hastily and left.

"Hey! Come back, Potter! I was just messing ar- ow! Stop hitting me Coraline! What the f-" he heard as he reached the exit.

He thought he had lost her as he walked swiftly towards the corridor leading towards the Library where he suspected they had gone. But then he heard voices and that made him stop in his track. He tiptoed towards the empty room and listened.

"I heard a few Ravenclaw girls talking about seeing claw marks in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. What the fuck, Loralei?" Roman Nott said.

"It wasn't me, Rome! How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"Until I believe you, which frankly I don't, sister."

"Why would I lie about something like that?"

"Why wouldn't you? You know what will happen if people come to know about your secret, don't you?" Roman, the aloof and perpetually angry Roman was sounding increasingly frantic. "He will take you home and-"

 _What claw marks? What secret?_ Albus was curious now.

"And he will lock me up in that nasty dungeon like an animal and never let me out? I know-"

"He will _kill_ you, Lola. You don't know how bad he has gotten. You don't have a bloody clue what he is capable of." He spat angrily. "I have never let it come to that."

There was no response from Lola.

"Keep it in control," Roman said gently. "Or I won't be able to save you."

With that Albus heard footsteps approaching towards him and hid behind the nearest pillar. Roman Nott walked away with long strides. Albus waited for a few moments for his sister to follow, but when she didn't, he got away from his hiding place and contemplated on what to do next. He wanted to go to Lola. He wasn't sure why, but he did. He wanted to know what was plaguing her and Roman for that matter. The two boys weren't exactly friends, but he liked Roman. And from what he had heard, it seemed like they were in some deep trouble. It was still a bad idea to confront her though. At least that is what he thought until he heard her sobbing.

"Hey."

Lola looked up from her knees where her head was resting until she heard the voice. Albus Potter. She wiped her tears angrily and got up from the floor, fidgeting awkwardly, not sure how to respond.

Albus had never seen someone so helpless before. Her curly blong hair was a mess (but then again, he had never seen it tamed before), her blue eyes were red rimmed. And she looked like she was trying her best not to start crying again.

Albus decided to take a different route than flat out confrontation.

"Have you listened to any of my Coldplay records yet?"

She looked throughly baffled at that. "What?"

"Um. I was going to the Room of Requirement and listen to some of their music and I thought maybe you would like them..." Albus trailed uncertainly.

"But- but you don't even know my name!"

"Of course I do. You're Lola Nott." Albus said confidently.

"It's _Loralei_ to you, Albus Potter." She narrowed her eyes into slits at that.

Albus raised his eyebrows at that and said slowly as if speaking to a four year old. "Alright, _Loralei._ Do you want to-"

"Yes." She said, nodding her head quickly, avoiding looking him in the eye.

Albus was surprised at that. But he recovered quickly and grinned at her broadly. "Well, then. What are we waiting for?"

***  
Lily was basically procrastinating, playing with her food, looking utterly defeated after having tried to pry answers out of Hugo about how he knew of her punishment and thoroughly failing at the task. But the real reason for her procrastination was her unavoidable fate in the library. She normally wouldn't have minded going to the library, but she hated being told what to do. And despite of her love for her father, she wasn't particularly happy about his little punishment. Who would be? She rarely ever visited library, usually when exams were nearby. But at such an odd time of the year, it was unusual. Not to mention unnecessary.

But irrevocable at the moment.  
She stood up from her seat, sighing in exasperation, "Fine, Hugo. Don't tell me. But don't think I won't find you later to ask about this."

Hugo just shrugged and went back to shovelling a spoonful of banana pudding in his mouth.

As Lily headed towards Library she remembered that she had forgotten to bring Lorcan's book.

Stupid Lorcan. No wonder Hermione had sent a book for him. All the grown ups loved him. He was such a suck up. He would hold the doors open for all the ladies and helped them in the kitchen during Christmas. He would try to learn how to play chess from Ron or ask him how his inventions from the joke shop worked. He once took knitting lessons from Grandma Molly! Who does that? She wasn't even his grandmother!

Yes. Everybody just _loved_ Lorcan.

But they didn't know how Lorcan didn't have any friends apart from a few Weasleys at Hogwarts. He was practically a recluse. Always buried in books. His own brother could barely get along with him, as far as Lily knew. Both the Scamander brothers were very different from each other, in personality _and_ in looks. Where Lysander had short blond hair and blue gray eyes like Luna, Lorcan had curly black hair almost rivaling Albus' and eyes dark as night. Where Lysander was tall and had a body of a Quidditch player, which he was one, Lorcan was a little shorter (which was still tall by normal standards) but he had a broader build, as if he worked out in his spare time. Where Lysander had a reputation for being a player, Lorcan stayed as far away from the female species as he could, which didn't help his case much because girls found him "dark" and "alluring", whatever that meant, and rumour had it that these fangirls often flocked around in the library to get close to Lorcan. But nothing had come off it, or Lily would have found out.

Lily was climbing down the staircase with Lorcan's book in her hands when she heard Albus' voice.

"Oh yes. I quite like that one, too! I learned so much about muggles from that book. Even asked Hermione about some of it. How did you figure out all those parts?"

"Oh, you know. I spoke to one of my housemates.." came a female voice.

Lily ran off to hide in a corner, being in a full stealth mode now.

 _Well, well. Albus and a girl! Who would've thunk?_

Lily smiled to herself. As the pair climbed up the stairs she saw that it was a blonde from Hufflepuff. She didn't know her name but she had seen her with Ashima Patil-Finnegan sometimes. Lily made a decision to find out who the mysterious blonde was, though. This was too good to pass up.

After Albus and his mystery girl had disappeared on the fifth floor staircase, Lily moved towards the library with a considerably happier mood than before.

***  
 **A/N:**

 **I don't know if anybody reads this, but if you do, please give me a sign. Maybe a review!**

 **If in fact there is a Homo** _ **sapiens**_ **(muggle or magical) out there reading this, I want them to know that I don't know when I will update next, as I am moving away from my home country in a week (*psyched*), and I don't know when I will get the time, but I am going to try my best to update next week.**

 **I also have two questions for my mysterious readers (or lack there of):**

 **1) I know I am going at a snail's pace writing this, plot wise, but I am just having too much fun and I hope you like it...? I dunno. I hope you do.**

 **2) Has anyone read Harry Potter and The Cursed Child yet? I don't particularly care for book reviews, which haven't been all glowing for our latest book, but I personally loved it. I have written a review, which I usually don't, but as a Potterhead, it was my duty to do it. You can read it on .com**  
 **Although you don't need to if you don't want to.**

 ***SPOILER AHEAD FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T READ THE CURSED CHILD***  
 **Also, there is something I want to clarify here: I don't plan on using Delphi's character or that storyline here. Because the thought of Voldemort having a child is plain ridiculous to me. My blog would explain my reasons.**  
 **So yeah. I hope someone reads this somewhere. But regardless, I am going to keep writing this because I love it.**  
 **I am writing fanfiction! Yay!**


	6. Of Forced Patrols and Hateful Tutors

_"_ Louis, you sly little shit." Rose muttered as she saw Scorpius heading towards her in the Entrance Hall.

When Louis had cornered her earlier in the evening and coerced her into patroling for Skeeter tonight, he had been carefully cryptic about her patroling partner, being highly vague and going all "Oh you will find out soon enough, Rosie."

It made complete sense now, though. The fact that Rose despised Malfoy was a fact commonly known. Rose had a reputation to hold, and thus made a point of keeping the truce she had made with Scorpius a secret. She may be a bit civil to that pointy nosed git now, but that didn't mean that they were chums. It wasn't that she wanted to be openly hostile like she usually did, but it was hard for her to be polite to him.

As Scorpius drew closer she noticed that he wasn't wearing the resigned expression he often held when he was around her; the expression that at times screamed plain avoidance towards whatever Rose would be screaming at him. She thought back to what he had said to her that night when they made the stupid truce: he was right. He _didn't_ retaliate. Ever. Rose couldn't understand why. He had every reason to. Rose Weasley may have been a bit of a shrew (although she would never admit it herself), but she wasn't oblivious to the fact that her behaviour towards a certain Slytherin boy with haunting gray eyes was not exactly just. She felt a pang of guilt seeping into her mind from that annoying subconscious of hers, and pushed it away quickly, trying to school her features into subdued boredom as she looked at a slightly anxious looking Malfoy.

"Scared that you will lose to us tomorrow, Malfoy?" Rose said with a little smirk.

Scorpius looked startled, as if his mind had been elsewhere, as if he expected her to say something entirely else, as he finally made it to where Rose was standing.

"Good evening to you, too, Weasley." He sighed and shook his head.

Rose rolled her eyes, "Fine. Don't answer. I already know you're scared."

"And pray tell, how exactly did you come to that conclusion?" Scorpius asked indignantly.

He was not in the mood for Weasley's bullshit tonight. But the girl had caught him at a really bad time, when Scorpius was itching for a slightest bit of antagonism; a rare happenstance in itself.

"Oh, it was written all over your face when I saw you coming here. You looked awfully pale."

"I'm _always_ pale." Scorpius scoffed.

"That you are."

Weasley was quite fond of this snarky routine of hers when it came to Scorpius, but today she was clearly off her game with dull and repetative comments. It seemed almost as if she was trying to hide something. The fact that she was fiddling with her fingers and staring at somewhere past Scorpius'left shoulder, avoiding his eyes made him confirm his doubts.

"Are _you_ scared?" Scorpius asked suspiciously.

"Of course not, Malfoy." Rose said quickly, then added, "Enough with the dilly dallying. Come now, patrolling to do, sleep to catch, matches to play. I don't have time."

And with that she turned on her heal and headed towards the East wing. Scorpius wasn't sure if he was supposed to follow her. But her odd behaviour had made him curious. Her veiled hostility was something he hadn't expected after that truce. The most he had expected was being ignored, which wasn't much better when you lo- _Nope. Don't go there, Scorp._

Rose, on the other end, knew one thing: Scorpius Malfoy at times may be annoying, but stupid, he was not. He knew something was up. It was written on his face that he knew. The fact was, Rose _had_ been stressed out about the stupid match. Replacing Lily had been harder than she had thought. Seekers weren't easy to come by, but after two weeks of searching, she had found a tiny third year girl named Melinda Carlton, who was quick and efficient. It was still hard for the rest of the team to adjust to the newest member, thanks to McFee, who was enjoying the fact that the team was already rattling under Rose's captaincy. He had been increasingly difficult since the term had started. But Rose would rather paint her hair rainbow than admit this to anybody, much less Scorpius Malfoy, the Keepering Git.  
She could hear him trailing behind her quietly. She turned towards him, deciding that she would rather talk to him and act normally than be a bitch. She was tired of being a bitch to him. Especially when she didn't want to.

"So? What's up with you?"

Scorpius was surprised to hear such a casual question from her. But as usual, he hid itnwell as he politely answered with, "You know, same old. Internship applications and the whole deal."

Oh yeah. Bloody internship. Rose had applied at a couple of places including Gringotts and Harry's office. Still hadn't heard from anyone.

"It's a real hassle, isn't it." He added after a beat.

"Tell me about it." Rose nodded sagely at him.

They went silent again for a while as they climbed the stairs to the third floor. Patrols were boring. They could become excruciatingly boring when your partner was not a friend.

But Rose was determined to make it work. And in a good way. After behaving like a petulant child towards Scorpius, she suddenly had the urge to try and do better. Maybe that horrible guilt-thing was messing with her head. Although it was difficult for her to do that, as one could tell from the way she had acted towards him earlier tonight. But conversations were easier when they were just in your mind. What could she ask him? Maybe something about Albus? But the last three conversations they've had were on Albus. And she didn't want to sound like a hovering relation of Al to Malfoy. Then she remembered something that had been nagging in the back of her mind since the day of Lily's Punching Incident.

"Malfoy?"

"Hmm?" Scorpius hummed absentmidedly as he peeked through a half closed door of a classroom.

"Do you have any siblings?"

***  
It had been almost half an hour since Albus and Lola had been sitting by the fire place across from each other in The Room, listening to Coldplay, sharing the companionable silence.

At first Albus had tried to make small talk about books, but it hadn't worked as all Lola gave were clipped answers. As soon as they got inside the room, he gave up on it. Lola looked like someone had kicked her puppy, which was understandable considering the state he found her in, but Albus had a trying day, too. And he was more than happy to comply with Lola's "no-talking-policy". And besides, who needed conversation when you had Coldplay?

Lola was chewing on her lip, trying hard not to cry. Or maybe she was just really interested in the threads of the carpet, since she wouldn't look away from it. Albus couldn't tell. But he suspected it was the former.

He didn't need to sit and wonder for much longer though, because as the opening chords of 'Fix You' started to fill the room, something snapped in Loralei Nott and she started to cry earnestly.

Any other boy would have thought that it was awkward. Not Albus Potter. He had a lot of experience comforting his hysterical female cousins. Although he suspected that Lola's reasons were a lot less juvenile than his cousins.

A really odd thought came to Albus at that moment: _She is a pretty crier._

Albus groaned inwardly in frustration, looking away from a now sniffling Lola for a minute. He didn't need that line of thoughts right now. Sure. Lola- _Loralei_ Nott was a pretty- no, a beautiful girl. Her eyes weren't blue like Rose's. Instead of sea coloured eyes, she had cornflower blue eyes. She wore little to no makeup on her fine featured face. Now that Albus had a chance to look at her closely, he could make out some resemblance to the Nott boys. They all had delicate, almost elvian features, which looked comical on the huge Bartholomew Nott and out of place on a very serious Roman Nott, but somehow seemed to work on this five feet two, slip of a girl.

Lola gave another loud sniffle, which brought Albus out of his observation frenzy and made him feel like a dick. Because here was a girl, having a trying time of her life due to Merlin-knew-what, and here he was, sitting on his arse like an insensitive little shite. He needed to say something. And he needed to say it quick.

"Loralei?"

Lola felt Albus Potter's hand on her shoulder before she heard his voice. But she was at a stage of her crying where she couldn't stop, no matter how hard she tried. And she hated herself for it. She hated coming off as a weakling in anybody's eyes. But she was tired. _So tired._

"Lola?" Albus said a bit more gently, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Lola looked appalled for a minute for some reason, but after that she recovered rather quickly, because suddenly she burst out a frustrated, "But you don't even know me!"

"Are we still on this?" Albus sighed. He had no idea if the girl's peculiar behaviour was a one time thing or a rather regular old quirk.

"And don't call me Lola!" She said acidly.

Albus conveniently ignored it, as he raaised his eyebrows as if to prompt her, "Well?"

Lola sighed in resignation. She was done crying anyway. And she suspected that Albus knew about her friendless state. Because she had often seen him glancing her way during meals with a sympathetic look on his face, where she chose to sit alone, away from the Hufflepuff crowd. Of course, there was Ashima, but she hadn't been much of a friend to her since the day she had finally figured out that Lola was not going to be the key for her to get to Bart.

She didn't want to open upto anybody, much less Albus Potter, who hadn't even known she existed until a few days ago. But something in his bright green eyes compelled her to tell him. They held compassion, the kind that didn't come with a side of judgement. Not that Lola knew how people usually reacted to listening to other people. She had always been a loner, thanks to her father's warnings, she had never had a normal converastion with anybody, much less any kind of friendship.

"Look, it's alright if you don't want to talk about it. But I'd suggest you do. I-" Albus took a deep breath, "I heard you. I heard you and Rome fighting." Then added quickly, "Sorry."

Lola's eyes were wide with shock. "How much." She said in a hushed voice, "have you heard exactly?"

"Who wants to kill you, Loralei?"

***  
Lily arched her stiff back to drain some of the tension out of her spine, and cursed the persin who had decided to chosen these blasted chairs for the library, a place where students often pulled all nighters. That was one of the newer developments in Hogwarts. The curfew didn't apply to Fifth years and higher if they were in the library with a permission slip from their house heads.

On this particularly dull evening it was just Lily and a couple of Seventh years there. And of course, _Lorcan._ Lorcan, who had blatantly ignored Lily as she had placed his precious little book in front of him, by merely nodding in her direction without looking up. Lorcan, who was eating a pumpkin pasty as he read through one of the textbooks. Lorcan, who would never be reprimanded by Leroy for eating in the Library. Lorcan, who had a reputation of a brilliant Seventh Year student in all the subjects he took, including Potions.

Lily decided that her need for help was bigger than her pride, which would be deeply wounded when she'll ask Lorcan Scamander for help. Sure. She could always just ditch Potions, the bane of her existence at Hogwarts and forget about her father's little "punishment". But OWLs were looming over her head, and it wouldn't hurt to know as muh of Potions as she could before it was too late.

"Scamander." Lily murmured as she went to Lorcan's table, who looked at her.

"Lily." Lorcan said, startled. Then he recovered quickly and added with a skeptical brow, "Are you lost?"

"What? No!" Lily exclaimed, "Why would you think so?"

Lorcan made a point of checking his wrist watch as he frowned, "It's 10 o'clock on a Friday night. A pre-game night. This is the Library. You are Lily. Take your pick."

"Ha ha. You're hilarious, Scamander." Lily snorted.

Lorcan flashed her a grin so sudden that Lily almost felt as if she blinded by it, but he decided not to tease her anymore and waited for Lily to say something.

"Sooo..." Lily trailed, "Here's the-here's the thing." Followed by a delicate cough, "Lorcan. As you know, I am a fifth year, which means that I will sit my OWLs at the end of the year just as you will sit your NEWTs. NEWTs! Newt! Ha ha! Wasn't that your great-great grandfather's name? I've read his book. Although animals and I haven't really got along well before. James said I killed a fish of his when I was two. But that was totally not my fault! I am not a psychotic killer who goes around killing people's pets, you know! But that is James for you and-"

"Lily. You said something about OWLs."

"Right! So I sit my OWLs. And you know how Hamilton is! She is a slave driver, that woman. Takes tests every other Friday. I have one major one coming in a fortnight on The Living Draught. Pfft. As if I would know whit about any Potion. I try, you know. But its just not my cup of tea. Albus does alright with Potions. I mean I could ask him for help if I wanted to, and he wouldn't say no to me, since he's my brother and all. But he has enough issues of his own. Then there's Rosie. But well, you know. She is not a good teacher. She is too fast for me. Scorpius and I aren't that good friends. So he is not an option either. I kniw that you have studying to do. But you are in Ravenclaw right? Which means that you're brilliant. And your mum's name is my middle name and my mum is-"

Lily didn't finish her verbal diarrhoea because she suddenly realised that Lorcan wasn't giving her his signature look of dismissal or even anything remotely related to that. No sirree. Lorcan Scamander was _laughing._ In fact, he was laughing so hard that he was struggling to sit straight in his chair, which already looked a bit too small for his tall frame.

"Are you-" Lorcan started, but didn't finish his sentence because Leroy chose that exact moment to make her rounds. So Lily quickly took the chair across from Lorcan and pretended to read one of his books, while Lorcan was still struggling to suppress his mirth. Lily rolled her eyes at him. She had never seen Lorcan showing any signs of humour before.

Aftrr giving their table a suspicious glance, Leroy went on her way.

At last Lorcan took a deep breath, and with a small smile on his face he said, "Was that your way of asking me for help earlier, Lily?"

"Maybe?" Lily whispered.

"Come again?"

"Yes. I would like that very much. Thank you, Scamander."

Lorcan suppressed a smile at that. There wasn't much that made Lorcan Scamander smile. Not really. Especially not another person, another _human._ Lily Potter's little word vomit had changed that. It was refreshing.

Lorcan was quiet. Lonely. Angry. Angry at the world and at himself. He wasn't like his brother, his dynamic twin brother who was so good with people their own age, who had friends, who was so perfectly normal. So perfectly _ordinary._

 _No,_ Lorcan thought. _I won't blame Lysander for who I am._

Lorcan Scamander wasn't good with people. And it wasn't a secret. His formidable demeanour made people edgy. Scared of what will come out of this dark eyed boy's mouth. Although it was a hasty presumption on their part, because Lorcan wasn't as bad as they thought. He didn't hate them or thought that he was better than them. No. He wasn't. He was just better with animals. And _that_ was his secret talent.

Not many magical children were born with the ability to communicate with animals. Lorcan wasn't even sure there was anybody else besides him. His mother had a way with them. So did his father, Rolf the Adventurer. But neither of them could actually speak to them. Or control them.

Lily and her everlasting suspicion towards him were a problem in Lorcan's book. But at the same time, her being among the few people who had caught on to the fact that there was perhaps more to Lysander Scamander's quiet brother than being a bit odd, spoke volumes about her. While other girls unsuccessfully tried to fawn over, Lily was weary of him. And that intrigued him.

"Very well." Lorcan folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening. Seven thirty sharp. Right at this table. Don't be late. Bring all your textbooks. Don't lie to me about how much you know. Do everything exactly as I say, and you just might get there."

Lily glared at his bluntness. But decided to keep her mouth shut.

"Fine." She said with an overly bright smile. "I will see you on Monday then. Wouldn't want to waste anymore of your precious time now, would we?" And with that, she gathered her stuff and left the table. But she was quite sure that she heard a low chuckle behind her.

***  
Scorpius blinked owlishly at Rose. Out of all the possible questions in the History of questions from Rose Weasley to Scorpius Malfoy in all the possible dimensions of the universe, this would be on the top of the list of oddest questions.

"Well?" Rose tapped her foot impatiently. "Are you going to keep staring at me all night or are you going to answer my question? It's quite simple, really. You see," She started cheekily. "Albus has two siblings: James and Lily. I have a brother, Hugo. It basically means that you share the-"

"I know what a sibling is, Weasley." Scorpius scowled at her. "Why are you asking me this anyway?"

"Well, well. Secretive much, Malfoy?" Rose smirked. "Why don't you just tell me, hmm? It's not the end of the world, you know. And if you are this afraid of telling me, then you shouldn't have said something about it to Albus in front of me."

That jogged Scorpius' memory and at the same time made him want to punch himself for being so reckless. There was a very good reason why the Malfoy didn't talk about this.

Weasley was stubborn as a mule, though. And if he didn't tell her, she would assume the worst.

"I have a little sister."

Scorpius waited for Rose to bubble with more questions about why nobody knew about his sister's existence and other annoying form of interrogation from her.

Instead, she waited calmly for him to say more on the subject.

"Her name is Ireland. She is four. She likes to ride around the manor on her pink bicycle all day, loves pecan pie, talks a mile a minute and is always on my case about 'showing her my magic'." Scorpius finished hastily.

"No constellations this time, huh?"

"What? No." Scorpius narrowed his eyes at her. "How do you know that?"

"I read." She rolled her eyes. "Your family traces back to early 1100s. It's quite fascinating ,really. But tell me. Why Ireland? You know that's an unusual name for a girl right?"

"And Scorpius is as common as John for a boy, huh?" He said with a lopsided grin. "My mom chose Ira's name. She and my grandmother had a huge row about it. Her exact words were 'we are fresh out of constellation names, Narcissa. It's time this family came back to Earth'."

Rose smiled at that. But didn't say anything for a while. Scorpius could feel her eyes on him. She was still not done with this topic. And he knew what was coming next.

"What."

"What what?"

"What are you itching to ask, Weasley? Your hand wringing is making me really anxious." He said dryly.

"Why does nobody know about her?" She blurted out.

A cynical look came upon Scorpius' face at that moment, which he hastily turned into a stony expression, and said through clenched teeth, "Because my father hates her."


	7. Of Split Personality Disorders

_**A/N: Hello there, my silent readers (assuming that I actually have readers)! I am really sorry that I have been pretty bad at updating. I know that it's what everybody says when they don't update. But I swear I had a good reason for being so tardy. I moved! To Birmingham, AL! And I love it here! But still it's a little disorienting. Okay. I guess I am doing that TMI thing again. Anyhoo. I am back. And I intend to update very regularly. And also, I just read my writing and saw that I have a lot of errors in it. A lot of typos. I am sorry about that. I am actually your garden variety grammar Nazi. But apparently I am not completely infallible. How unfair. But yeah. Sorry about that.**_

 _ **One more thing. This chapter may feel like a filler, but it is how it was meant to be. You can consider it as part 2 of Chapter 6.**_

 _ **Alright. I will be shutting up for good now. Thank you for reading my story! You people are lovely! Please drop me a review!**_

Rose was speechless. That was quickly turning into a routine with Scorpius Malfoy. He rendered her speechless quite often. She wasn't sure how to respond to that abrupt declaration. Rose had grown up hearing her parents' stories from their Hogwarts days. So Draco Malfoy was to her what a historical character would be to a person: vaguely familiar. She had seen him at the King's Cross a few times. He was a stern looking man with an uptight manner. She remembered her dad muttering "stick up his arse" or something along those lines about the senior Malfoy. But she had never pegged him for a bad father. But who was she to say anything on the subject anyway?

Meanwhile, Scorpius was mentally scolding himself for spilling out his guts to Rose Weasley. This was not supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to talk about his sister to anyone. That was the rule. His rule. He had enough problems right now with his mother's illness. He had still not replied to the letter his father had sent. And despite of his best efforts, worry was starting to creep up to him. Worry about his mother, his sister, about everything. He had barely kept his calm façade during the patrol, compartmentalizing everything in his head. But he was slipping. The fact that he told this much about Ira to non other than Rose Weasley was a solid proof of just how much he was slipping. But before he could say anything, Louis appeared out of nowhere, accompanied by the charming Apple Skeeter.

"I want you to know, Louis Weasley, that I don't appreciate you mocking me in front of the Headmistress. I don't appreciate it one bit," she seethed, unaware of the fact that she now had an audience consisting of two bewildered prefects.

"I wouldn't call it _mocking."_ Louis huffed. "I was gently nudging her to see things my way. I have nothing but utmost respect for you, my dear. But honestly, if you think that I am going to let you convince McGonagall of some of your ideas for the- Oh! Fancy seeing _you_ here, Rosie, luv! And Scorpius! My, my. Isn't this a happy accident."

"You should know that this isn't an "accident" of any kind, Louie. You know exactly why Malfoy and I are out here at this hour." Rose rolled her eyes and turned to Apple with a kind smile, "I like your earrings, Skeeter."

Taken aback by the unexpected compliment, Apple simply bobbed her head in Rose's direction and turned her blazing eyes to Scorpius, "I am glad I found _you_ here, Malfoy. There are things happening in Hogwarts right at this moment, which everyone should know about," Apple said conspirationally, "And you and I both know that I am better than you at gathering that kind of intel."

Scorpius sighed. "You sure are, Apple."

"But not here. Meet me tomorrow after your match in the office. We can discuss things then." Apple said, throwing suspicious glances in Rose's way.

"Oh, stop being so mysterious, Skeeter. Just tell the boy. They are going to find out soon enough." Louis drawled.

"Fine," Apple folded her arms in defiance. "We are having a Christmas Ball this year. But that is all I'll say at the moment. And Louis, contrary to what you believe, Herald business is strictly confidential. I'd rather not discuss it in front of others. Good bye, Rose. It was nice seeing you." And with that, she stormed off, leaving Louis with a wide cheeky grin.

Louis knew that he irritated Apple to no end. They had a complicated history, Apple and Louis.

"Wow, Lou. You sure know how to get on her nerves." Rose raised her eyebrow.

"Oh, please," Louis flashed another dazzling smile. "She acts like a dragon lady, but from the inside, she is nothing but a furry little kitten."

"With pointy claws and a perpetual need to scratch people with them." Scorpius said with a horrified look in his eyes.

Rose rolled her eyes at the two boys. "Don't do that. She isn't that bad. She's just a bit too…passionate about things. You can't blame her for that. What? Why are you looking at me like that, Malfoy?"

Scorpius' skeptical expression remained unaltered as he said, "Has anybody ever told you, Weasley, that there is a very high chance of you having a multiple personality disorder?"

"What in the world-"

"No. Let me finish." Scorpius said with his hand held up. "I can perfectly recall, when not long ago you literally _attacked_ me about having Skeeter as one of my Herald writers, quite _passionately,_ if I am correct. And now you're defending her?"

"I'm not! I'm just- you're just- ugh! You know what? Fudge it! I thought we were having a civil patch in our "rocky little ceasefire". But I can see that I was wrong. I still think you're an arsehole." Rose snarled.

Louis seemed slightly worried now. "Alright, Rosie. That's-"

"Shut up, Lou," Rose said. "And you know what _else_ I think, Malfoy?" Rose took a long breath.

"I'm sure you're about to tell me just that, Rose. Don't let me stop you." Scorpius said dryly.

They were both almost nose to nose now. And it was quite startling from a third person perspective, because it could be only one of the two scenarios: two enemies ready to jump at each other's throats, or two extremely oblivious lovers about to tear at each other's clothes. It was also a study in contrast, Louis thought. The pair of them. Everything about Rose spoke "loud": her hair, her red face, her voice, her demeanor, her anger. And everything about Scorpius said "calm": his voice, his manner, his eyes, the way his hands were tightly fisted at his sides, as if trying desperately to stay in control. Yes, Louis Weasley didn't miss much, especially when it was something of a potentially romantic nature. And whether these two idiots knew it or not, there was a lot of potential there.

"I think that it's _you_ who has a multiple personality disorder. I am so done with this truce."

"Oh yeah?" Scorpius said, deadly serious.

"Hell, yeah." Rose whispered.

"Okaaay, you two. Break it up." Louis said.

"So am I," Scorpius completely ignored Louis as he went on with a deadly quiet voice. "And you know what else, Weasley? I have never actively tried to beat you in anything before. I have never needed to. But now I _want_ to. You thought I was better than you in everything? Well, now you will see just _how_ better I can be. I bet _that_ will make your Dad real proud of you."

Rose was beyond angry now. She grabbed Scorpius' collar as she said, "Do your worst, you arsehole."

"Oh, I will." Scorpius smirked.

"That's it. Detention!" Louis exclaimed as he rushed to separate the two. "Malfoy, Rose, quit it."

"Det- you can't do that!" Rose exclaimed.

"Watch me, Rosie." Louis glared at the now deeply breathing Rose. Then he turned towards Scorpius, and said, "Just because we're friends doesn't mean that I will let this slide. I don't know what issues you two have. But they better not affect your duties. I will speak with Professor Longbottom and Professor Provost about this. So expect to hear from them soon. Now go."

Both the prefects left the arena, looking a little defeated, leaving Louis standing there smiling like the cat who had got the cream. Not that they didn't completely deserve that detention, but he was happy with the possible side effects of throwing them together.

It was just a little bit of fun for Louis Weasley then. But even he was oblivious to the fact what a huge favour he had done to the pair at that moment.

Scorpius was fuming as he entered his dormitory. He was not sure what got into him. He was an idiot.

"You're an idiot," Albus was sitting on his bed, looking tired and sleepy. "Do you know what time it is? Two in the morning."

Scorpius threw himself on his bed and sighed deeply, "Not in the mood, Al."

Albus chose to ignore that. "And do you know what that means? We have only six hours to get you enough sleep till the match. Why on earth did you think to have your little rendezvous tonight?"

"What are you on about? I was patrolling."

"Till two? I may not be a prefect, Scorpius, but even I know patrolling hours."

Scorpius sighed for the thousandth time that night as he began, "I got caught up with something, alright? I am sorry. I'm just in a lot of stress right now. I will be careful next time. And don't worry about that match tomorrow, Al. You know we'll be fine."

Albus didn't say anything as he stared at his friend blankly. He knew that Scorpius had received a letter from his father today. Those always brought on this dark cloud around his friend. But this time he looked defeated.

"Just when do I ever have a "rendezvous", anyway? How did you come to that conclusion?" Scorpius said, changing the subject.

Albus smiled at his friend warmly and there was that to the matter. As Scorpius buried his head in his blanket, he heard Albus mumbling through his blankets, "Are you alright, Scorp?"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Good night, Albus."

"Good night."

And with that, both boys pretended to be asleep, knowing for fact that the other was still awake. Neither of them were in a confrontational mood tonight, which was usually the case when it came to their friendship. Albus knew that Scorpius had secrets he wasn't ready to talk about. And Scorpius knew that behind Albus' quiet façade there was a storm brewing, slowly and consistently. But they rarely ever spoke of their troubles to each other. And they liked it that way. They trusted each other enough to know that they will talk when they were ready to talk.

Albus was musing over the night's events.

" _Who wants to kill you, Loralei?"_

 _As if it were even possible, Loralei shirked further into the pillows._

" _Hey, hey. Don't be afraid. I am not trying to hurt you." Albus said in a soothing voice as he went a little closer to her._

 _Lola took a deep breath. "I know that. I am not afraid of you, Albus Potter." She said with a brave voice. "I am actually a bit annoyed. Do you make a habit of eavesdropping in other people's conversations?"_

" _What- no! Of course not." But Albus knew that his body language screamed guilty. "Look, I am not a creeper, okay? I was- I followed you." He said hesitantly._

 _Lola just squinted at him in confusion._

" _I followed you and Roman. The way you two left the Great Hall…something wasn't right there. And I got worried. I was right, wasn't I?"_

 _Lola stayed quiet for a bit. Then she began quietly. "I am fine. Roman was not trying to hurt me. He has been protecting me. Look, I-" She hesitated for a bit. "I can't tell you everything. I am not supposed to. When you found me there in the corridor, I really needed a…a friend, I suppose. And you were there. And I appreciate it. A lot. But you need to stay out of this, Albus Potter. For your own good."_

Albus wanted to run after her so badly. He didn't know why he felt so compelled to be around her, why he wanted to unravel all of her secrets and share his with her. He wasn't lonely like her. He had friends, and a huge family. But still he could see a sort of something in Lola's eyes that was making him act like this.

 _This isn't the time, Albus._ He thought. _You have a match to play tomorrow._

The next morning brought Lily Potter yet another bout of foul feelings towards all living things and everything else existing under the endless sky. There was a bustle of people moving around with anticipation of the match. Her friend Viola Obst had already created a cloud of some floral perfume in order to attract the older boys during match.

Lily sneezed violently as that abominable perfume reached her nose. "Ugh, Viola. What _is_ that? It's awful." Lily mumbled through the hand clamped around her mouth.

"Oh, Lily darling. You're awake. I was afraid you won't get up on time to tame that wild hair of yours. It's in quite a state, honestly." Viola gushed.

Viola Obst was a girl perpetually stuck in an old Audrey Hepburn movie. Born to a wealthy banker from London and a socialite mother who spent much of her time attending charity galas with a glass of white wine in her hand at all times, Viola had spent many a nights sitting alone in her room, watching classic Hepburn films over and over, until one day she had decided that she wanted to be Audrey Hepburn. All those dreams however had to be put aside when eight years old Viola set her mother's wine on fire one night at a party in presence of about a hundred people from Muggle London's elite, and her magical abilities had come to light. It was quite a mess too at the ministry's hands. But the thing was, even after five years in Hogwarts, Viola had still not given up on her dream of becoming Audrey Hepburn. And that showed in her manner of speaking, her hair and her clothes. Viola was shallow and cruel at times, but for some reason, she had remained Lily's friend after all this time. Perhaps the reason why they got along so well was that Lily could also be equally vindictive and selfish at times. And both the girls understood that about each other. It was more of a symbiotic relationship.

"I am not coming to the match." Lily said dejectedly as she slumped back in bed.

"Oh, come on, now. Don't be a sourpuss. Don't you want to see how absolutely beautiful the view is from the stands?"

Viola's saucy tone made Lily roll her eyes. She knew exactly what "view" Viola was referring to. "Eww, no. Not Albus, Viola!"

"Did I say I was talking about your brother?" Viola said nonchalantly.

But Lily knew better. While most of Hogwarts' male population fawned over Viola, her only object of affection (read:obsession) had been Albus for years now. It had been the case ever since Albus had given her his scarf once during her first year at Hogwarts in winter and Viola was sneezing violently. She had seen that as a grand romantic gesture for some reason. What Viola didn't know, however, was that it wasn't unusual of Albus to give out scarves to people he didn't know very well. And she had formed an idea somewhere in her mind that Albus was The One for her. And she didn't shy away from talking about them in front of Lily, either, which made Lily often want to strangle her brother for being nice to people.

Lily decided that she didn't want anything to do with Viola or Quidditch today. She wanted to stay as far from everything as possible. She changed into a pair of ratty jeans and a t-shirt that said _"Hungarian Horntail Is My Spirit Animal"_ , piled her hair into a top knot, grabbed her books into a bag and left for the Library.

Meanwhile, Rose was prepping herself up as if she were going on a war. She wasn't sure what had crawled up Malfoy's arse last night, but he was going to pay for it in this match. Rose gulped down her banana with a huge sip of pumpkin juice as she glared daggers at Scorpius looking shiny in his Quidditch gear, eating what looked like something yellow and red from distance, and sulking quietly beside a tired looking Albus.

Scorpius, as if feeling Rose's eyes on him, looked up from his plate towards her with an undecipherable expression and then suddenly got out of his seat and took off towards the Entrance Hall.

Strange boy. His strange behaviour was firming Rose's belief that he probably suffered from split personality disorder. But she chose to ignore the thought. Why waste time on thinking about such a foul person when you had a chance to beat them in near future?

 _ **PS: Replying to the mysterious guest reader who reviewed on Chapter 6:**_

 _ **I am sorry. I have not figured out how to reply on guest reviews. I am new to this. And my tech skills are not that good. But you know who you are so I am just going to say my part here in case you decide to drop by this story again. I hope you do. I love reviews. So yeah. The reason why I am going way off what we have read in The Cursed Child character wise is that I didn't like some of them. I was really not a fan of book Rose. So I made changes. About the whole Ireland Malfoy situation, you will find out soon enough that things are not quite as they seem. Wow. I always wanted to say that. Thank you for your kind words again! Cheers!**_


	8. It's a Match!

Neville walked briskly amidst the sea of students clad in their house colours, bustling about in the Quidditch stands with an undercurrent of excitement, and smiled to himself at the memory of his own days at Hogwarts. Harry had made Quidditch matches quite an occasion for all of them. Everytime Gryffindor went to play, something happened. Neville himself hadn't been a star flyer by a long shot in his year, though. And honestly, he didn't particularly enjoy it, either. Being bullied by Draco Malfoy during his very first flying lesson had left a bad taste in his mouth for broomsticks. In fact, he would take muggle transport system over broomsticks any day. Muggles had a good thing going on with those trains they called "tube". Quite clever.

"Why, you little-ugh- just get-" came a troubled groan from Terrence McMillan, "Blasted microphones!"

"Do you need a hand with that, Terrence?" Neville asked kindly.

"Oh, hullo, Professor Longbottom!" Terrence said. "No, thank you. I got this." He banged the thing against a metal rod twice, making Neville wince.

Neville shrugged and decided to leave McMillan to his own devices, making his way to the empty seat beside the Headmistress, who was wearing a comical expression on her face.

"MY DEAR FRIENDS! IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY TO PLAY QUIDDITCH!" Terrence's voice boomed. The crowd booed quite enthusiastically in response. That was the usual response by the spectators to Terrence's commentary.

"I am glad I don't have to deal with commentators anymore. That is one aspect of being the Headmistress that I enjoy." Minerva said airily as Neville took his seat. "You seem to be in fine spirits today, Neville."

Neville _was_ in fine spirits. His daughter was playing today. What a wonderful thing to be able to witness your child's each and every game. That was one of the things that _he_ enjoyed about being a teacher at Hogwarts. He could stay close to Helena that way. "It's a beautiful morning, Professor. This should be a-" His voice was cut off by being shoved forward by a distressed Sylvain Provost making a hasty exit from the stands. "Sorry, Longbottom!"

Neville just frowned in response. What had got Sylvain in a binder? He had unexpectedly found a friend in the Defense teacher when Sylvain joined the faculty a few years ago. He was merely a few twenty odd years old then. Sylvain Provost had a reputation as a proficient Cursebreaker. But he had left that career and come to Hogwarts to lead a quiet life and fulfil his dream of teaching. Or so he said. Neville thought there was more to the story. But Sylvain wasn't exactly what one would call, chatty. He would often show up at his door on a late Friday night with a bottle of some expensive Muggle liquor and just sit with Neville in companionable silence. Neville didn't mind it much. He enjoyed the company and the few things they talked about. From what he had found out, Sylvain Provost came from old muggle money and he was an only child. Neville didn't know anything else except from what he had heard students whispering about Sylvain. He was a favourite among them. Especially female students. Neville shook his head to disregard the thought. He didn't want to comprehend on the subject when his daughter was a part of the female student body around here.

The crowd erupted in loud cheers as the teams entered the playing field. Rose Weasley and Albus Potter flew towards where Madame Hooch was standing. Madame Hooch asked the captains to shake hands.

"Ready to get your arse kicked, Al?" Rose said with a wide grin.

"We'll just have to see about that, Rosie Posie." Albus shot back with a flash of rare smile.

* * *

Lily tapped her fingers on the table for the hundredth time in that half an hour, chewing the end of her quill absentmindedly as she rummaged through the Potions textbook in front of her. Why was Potions so hard for her? She let out a sigh of frustration. Potions wasn't the only cause of her frustration though. Part of the reason was that they were playing Quidditch without her.

She was startled as someone took the quill from her hand- and her mouth- swiftly. Lily looked up to see an annoyed looking Lorcan Scamander drawing up a chair beside her.

"Alright, Lily. What is the issue here?" Lorcan said as he quickly glanced through the page Lily had open in front of her.

"What do you mean?" Lily averted her eyes away from Lorcan's dark gaze as she said, "There is no problem."

Lorcan took a deep breath of tested patience. "Lily," he began with a smile. "Do you know why I come to the library all the time? Because I like it here. The lighting is good. The people are focused. The books are nearby. Madame Leroy likes me so I can eat here unlike most people. And, most importantly, it is quiet. I enjoy quiet. Especially when I am trying to study. Your," he pointed at her fingers resting on the table. "Incessant tapping is disrupting my quiet."

Lily scowled at her. What was his deal? Giving sassy long responses was her job. Lorcan was more along the lines of speak-as-little-as-possible-and-prefer-disapproving-glares-to-actual-words types, his verbal responses usually limited to the word "no", especially when it came to Lily. The fact that he had said yes to tutoring her last night was a miracle in itself. Lily often couldn't comprehend how people felt about her. But in Lorcan's case, she was quite certain that she annoyed him. Luckily, the feeling was mutual.

On the other hand, Lorcan wasn't quite sure why he had decided to confront Lily at that moment. Usually when people did things like tapping their quills and just humming to themselves, Lorcan simply changed his table. That was the best way to deal with such people. Avoid and save time. But today he felt like poking Lily a little for some reason. Maybe he was just bored. Endlessly working on Arithmancy problems would do that to a person.

"You could have simply said so instead of going through the trouble of being descriptive, Scamander." Lily said, trying to sound as bored as possible.

"I could," Lorcan nodded sagely. "But then, that would not make me a very good tutor, would it? It is my job to see to it that you come out of Fifth year Potions alive," Lorcan suppressed a smile, recalling Lily's verbal diarrhea from last night. "So. What is it?"

Lily didn't say anything for a minute. Instead, she just looked at him skeptically. "Are you making fun of me right now, Lorcan?"

This time he didn't suppress that smile. In fact, it almost turned into a smirk. "I never make fun of people, Lily," He said with that quiet, rumbly voice of his, "Why would you think so?"

Lily snorted. "Right. You don't make any kind of fun, do you." She muttered.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing!" Lily said brightly, sitting up a little straighter in her chair. "Are you serious about this?"

"About what?"

"About this tutoring thing?"

"I wouldn't have agreed to do it if I weren't." Lorcan said. "So, which Potion is it?"

"But it's a Saturday today!" Lily said hastily.

"I'm aware."

"Well…"

Lorcan sighed, then began quietly, "I meant it when I said I will help you get through Potions. And it's not like I have anything better to do right now."

"It's just that.." Lily trailed off. "I wouldn't want to…"

"Oh, for Rowena's sake spit it out, Lily." Lorcan grumbled a her.

"Moonstone!" Lily exclaimed suddenly.

"Quiet!" Leroy hissed from where she had been lurking the entire time.

Lily just rolled her eyes and continued with a hushed voice, "She wants a three feet parchment essay on properties of Moonstone. I know _nothing_ about moonstones. I haven't even seen one before in my life!"

Lorcan just stared at her with a puzzling expression for some time, his long fingers grazing his jaw rhythmically. Lily tried to determine what that look meant, and decided that she was too exhausted to make a decision on the subject. Maybe he would declare that he didn't want to help her anymore, which made complete sense in the world of Lily Logic. Because why would he help him? She hadn't been particularly, what you would call "civil" to him during their entire history of acquaintance. And she knew that Lorcan was way too smart to bother teaching a girl who struggled with even the basics of Potions. Maybe he had finally decided that he wanted to take his revenge on her and was gathering all the insults he could muster up for her at this very moment. Maybe that's why he wasn't saying anything. If that was the case, he had another thing coming. Contrary to the current evidence, Lily Potter wasn't some helpless Damsel. She could take care of herself, and it would be the last day of everyone's existence on Godric's green earth before she let-

"Come on," Lorcan stood up and offered an owlishly blinking Lily Potter a hand.

"What?" Lily was confused now. Maybe he wanted to spew his insults in front of everyone. That would be bad. Quite bad, indeed.

Lorcan sighed in defeat. Then put his hands on the table in front Lily and lowered his tall frame to look her in the eye, "Lily?"

"Hmm?" Lily hummed absentmindedly, boring her blue eyes into Lorcan's black, black gaze. But wait. They weren't entirely black at this distance and this light. There were flakes of brown in them. Dark, sinful brown. And dear Godric, the boy had some killer lashes on him.

Unaware of Lily's internal musings, Lorcan continued with a soft voice, "Do you want to learn about Moonstones or not?"

"Mm-hmm." Lily nodded.

"Then let's go," with a smile, Lorcan Scamander offered Lily Potter his hand once more that day, and this time she put down her guard for the first time around this confusing, infuriating boy and decided to go along.

* * *

Rose sighed in annoyance as she heard Terrence blaring, "POTTER'S CAUGHT IT! SLYTHERIN WINS!"

The crowd went wild after that. There was chaos everywhere. People were cheering Albus' name, mostly Slytherins. But she also suspected that she saw Viola Obst screaming his name from the crowd, along with many other girls. What a clown. Rose never understood why Lily was friends with that horrid girl.

To say that Rose was disappointed by this match would be an understatement. She would have gladly accepted this verdict if the fight between two teams would have been a tough one. But it wasn't, thanks to dear old Albus. It had barely been fifteen minutes into the game. Gryffindor had scored forty points to Slytherin's fifty, but there would still have been room for improvement if it weren't for Albus and his snitch catching abilities. Little Roxanne had been scurrying after Albus to catch the blasted thing. But Al was faster, and more experienced than young Roxanne, who Rose suspected, had already left the crowd with quiet tears streaming down her face.

Had she made a mistake replacing Lily with such a young player on team? Rose thought, landing on the ground with a swoosh as somebody else did the same beside her.

"Good game, Weasley." Malfoy said, not unkindly, and gave her a faint smile.

Rose rolled her eyes and retorted, "Not in the mood, Malfoy."

Scorpius went bit red at that. He had expected that to happen. "Look, I'm sorry about-"

"Oi! Malfoy! What are you doing down there?" Bartholomew Nott shouted from fifteen feet above his head. "Captain Albie needs a proper cheering. Come up, man!"

Scorpius just glared at him quietly for a moment before returning his attention to Rose. Or where Rose would have been, if she wouldn't have left.

It was completely his fault. He knew it, and he had to make wasn't the time though, he thought. He needed to catch Rose when she had calmed down a bit.

"Potter! Nott! Humphrey! Down! Everyone, now!" Madam Hooch shouted at the Slytherin team huddled up in the air, eagerly discussing the game. Scorpius just kept staring at his teammates blankly as they descended.

"Well?" Albus grinned at Scorpius as they made their way to the locker rooms.

"You were great up there, Al." Scorpius said with a smile.

"Great?" Bart snorted, untying the laces from his quidditch gear. "Captain Albie was a fucking Merlin on a broomstick. Keep playing like this, Al, and we wouldn't have to move a muscle to get Slytherin the Cup this year."

Roman Nott whistled and said, "I hate to agree with Bart, but that was really something, Al."

"So," Bart said with a flourish of his hand. "Where's the party tonight, Captain?"

 _ **A/N: Hello! How did you like this chapter? I had this whole write up ready for the actual match, but decided against it in then end. This match is not going to be significant to the story by much. I didn't feel like giving someone a bludger inury just yet. It's too early to use that cliché. And I think by now, you all know how much I love my cliché (cliches?). Well. More on that later, I suppose. I was also a little unsure about going deep into Professor Provost's personal life. But I do have a back story for him in mind. It's still a plot bunny, but if any of you would like to see more of him, do let me know. If not, then I will write a short story on him anyway, for my own kicks and giggles. I think (ex)-Cursebreakers are pretty cool and from the moment I introduced him in the story, I have had this picture of him in my head.**_

 _ **One more thing, if anyone is interested to know (which you probably aren't and that's perfectly fine), I listened to "I Will Possess Your Heart" by Death Cab For Cutie on a loop while writing the Lily-Lorcan scenes. That song and that ship have literally possessed my heart. Ha ha.**_

 _ **Thank you for reviewing, following! Feedback is so precious!**_

 _ **Replying to the guest comment(s):**_

 _ **Thank you for your amazing reviews! I know that Albus seems like the loneliest guy on planet with undertones of a rebel. I feel sorry for him, too. But I adore him for his complexities. He contradicts himself so often. And I find it interesting. Initially I had decided to portray him as this straight laced boy with a minor role. I just wanted to focus on Rose and Scorpius. But the more characters I added, the more I wanted to explore their personalities. Including Lily and Lorcan! Oh, how I love that Scamander boy! Anyway, thanks again for reading! I hope you like this chapter.  
**_


	9. Of Beautiful Weaknesses

Rose sighed for what felt liked the thousandth time that night as she took a swig of her fruity cocktail. This was embarrassing. Who goes to a celebration of the enemy's victory? Who has traitorous friends like Amelia who drag them to said celebrations so that she can creepily ogle at Roman Nott for hours? The answer to both these questions was: Rose. And she hadn't stopped glaring daggers at Amelia the entire night, who was trying to be in the eye sight of Roman the entire night, dancing with Stephano Zabini friskily. But Roman was too busy glaring at his brother playing butterbeer pong with a group of sixth year girls. There was a lot of glaring going on, in short.

Rose wasn't sure she understood Amelia's crazy obsession with Roman. After all, she was one of the rare specimens of Hogwarts girls who had a sane head on her shoulders, partly why Rose became friends with her in the first place. Amelia's quiet pragmatism clashed with Rose's loud impulsiveness. But somehow they had managed so far. Perhaps, that very contrast was the reason why their friendship had survived all these years. Amelia had been very patient with Rose all these years. So, Rose owed it to her to endure such unbearable evenings if that's what made her happy. That said, it didn't stop her from complaining about the absolute atrocity these evenings represented.

The very fact that Amelia was getting a bit too "frisky" with Zabini alarmed Rose a bit. But she decided to give her a few minutes to come to her senses and took a huge gulp of her drink.

"You shouldn't be drinking that." Came a deep voice from her right.

Rose didn't need to turn her head to know that it was Malfoy. She had been worried about this. She didn't want to see him as far as she could help it. But she knew it was inevitable. But engaging in a conversation with him was completely evitable. So, she decided to ignore him.

"There's a lot of vodka in that, you know." He was closer now. She could almost feel his warmth on her shoulder. "I saw Bart adding a whole bottle into the punch bowl earlier."

Rose decided to stay still, hoping he would go away.

He didn't. In fact, his chest was almost touching her shoulder. Rose turned to face him. He was clearly not himself. His shoulders were relaxed. He wasn't frowning. Apart from the brightness in his stormy grey eyes, everything else suggested that Malfoy was drunk. Or at least, on his way of getting drunk. And still, the git had the audacity to question what she was drinking.

Rose looked him in the eye, put her mouth to her glass, and gulped down the entire glass in one go, never leaving his eyes.

Scorpius looked at her with a sense of surprise and mirth. Typical Rose Weasley. He should have known better than to ask her to do what was right for her. Because, of course she would do the opposite.

"Go away, Malfoy." She said coolly.

Scorpius just smirked in response as he went a little closer to Rose. Rose took a step back.

"Why?"

"Because I don't care for an argument with you right now." Rose said, trying to keep calm as she kept going back to avoid his advance, her back almost touching the wall of the room.

"Who said I wanted to argue, hmm?" He murmured.

"It's all we do, isn't it? I say something, you hear something else, and then you blast at me like I've killed your mum's cat." Rose said bitterly, wishing he would just leave her alone. But he almost had her caged now.

"Killed your mum's cat.." he tested her words in his mouth, mumbling them, moulding them, laughing at their absurdity. Only Rose Weasley could say something so utterly absurd even in a state of anger. And then the very thought of his mother brought an intense bout of fresh pain in his chest.

Rose noticed that because it was like a cloud suddenly fell over Socrpius' alcohol induced happiness. His face twisted with sorrow, like reality had punched him in the face just then. His shoulders went rigid and his eyes shut, as if to shun an unwelcomed thought. He came closer, his lips to her ear, and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Rose looked up at his face, trying to dissect his expression. "I'm sorry." He said again. "I didn't mean it. I didn't mean any of it."

Scorpius opened his eyes to Rose's big blue ones, full of concern. She blinked once, twice, and then she did something extremely weird.

She grabbed his hand and started pulling him out of the room.

"So?" Lorcan asked, his eyes full of amusement as he juggled a moonstone in his hand. "Do you think you can write that essay now?"

Lily looked at him, looking extremely petrified, "I don't know. I _think_ I can…?" She trailed off.

"You _think_ you can?" Lorcan was trying very hard to suppress his mirth now.

Lily just fidgeted with the book in her hand as she plopped down on a desk nearby.

They had been in the Potions classroom for the last four hours now, Lorcan trying to show Lily all he could while working on some of the advanced projects that Professor Hamilton had asked him to see to. While Lorcan worked quietly, Lily had spent her time alternating between listening to Lorcan talk about various Potions ingredients and stare at him while he was working.

Lorcan wasn't the embodiment of male beauty like Louis or Scorpius. He didn't ooze that vibrant charm his brother had. His hands were too big for the small vials he was working with. And yet, with his hands had a certain kind of grace to them. The way he stirred his potion, the way he tried to keep that unruly curl out of his eyes. If Lorcan wasn't so intimidatingly big and tall, she would have almost called him cute. When had he gotten so big anyway? He had gained some serious muscle mass out of the blue. With his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his forearms looked like they had seen many days of hard labour. Lily had a profound weakness for beautiful forearms.

But when Lily had realized that her observation was crossing a line with a speed she wasn't quite comfortable with, she had attacked on her reading material with a newfound dedication. That had been about one and a half hours ago. Lily was still a bit lost.

"I don't get it." Lorcan said, not suppressing that smile anymore. "Lily Potter. The ball buster. The go getter. The arse kicker. And yet, Lily Potter, the girl who is shit scared of Potions essays." He was laughing now. "You are a mystery, Lil."

"I don't like to work with things that could potentially burn my hands, okay?" Lily was trying her best to sound angry. "And besides, everybody has their weaknesses, Scamander." Lily said, her nose still sticking up high as ever.

Lorcan just looked at her piercingly, and murmured, "Of course they do."

Lily wasn't sure why, but she felt like his eyes said more than his words did. And that made her lie she was losing her grip on herself. Lorcan's worst, or best, depending on how you looked at it, feature was his eyes. His eyes always spoke volumes where his mouth stayed shut. They always had.

Lily suddenly got off the desk, trying to find out the nearest window. Lorcan's gaze was too intense for her to handle right now.

"The dungeon doesn't have windows, Lily." Lorcan's voice came from behind her.

"I know that." Lily lied. And felt extremely stupid in that moment. But who could blame her when Lorcan was standing so close?

"It's almost past dinner time, if that's what you were wondering." He said, a bit closer now.

Lily wasn't sure how to interpret the erratic rhythm of her heartbeat, or the fact that the warmth coming off Lorcan was surging through her neck, her cheeks and her _everything,_ or the reason for Lorcan's sudden nearness for that matter, but she decided that she needed to get away.

She turned to face him, and looked up. "Well! Look at that. Time went by so fast today!" She smiled at him brightly. "I should go. I don't even know who won the game. I hope it's Gryffindor. I should probably go and see how they are all doing. I also have to write a letter to my Dad. He is coming to Hogwarts next week, you know." She shuffled on her feet, waiting for Lorcan to say something. But all she got in response was a guarded expression on his face, so she went on. "I don't even know what Al has been up to since yesterday. I have to check up on him. I should-"

"You should go." Lorcan said, clearing his throat. "I know."

Lily wasn't sure what to say to that. "Alright, then. I'll see you around, Scamander. Thanks for the help."

She picked up her belongings and started towards the door.

"Lily?" Lorcan's voice came from behind.

"Yeah?"

"I think it's okay for you to call me Lorcan now." Lorcan smiled at her. "Don't you think so?"

 _ **A/N: Well! Look at that! I am not sure how I am doing at this point, but I've been on a hiatus for a while. But I had a feeling today while I was walking to school that today is the day I write a chapter. So, I did. Writer's block is a biyatch. Anyhoo, just a quick DISCLAIMER: The last bit about "You can call me Lorcan now" was inspired from B. 's fanfication Commentarius. So the credit for that one fully goes to Bee. If you are a fanfiction loving Potterhead, then there is no way you haven't read it yet. It is my favourite. I am not sure how, but Lorcan and Lily Luna somehow ended up in a similar situation as James and Lily Evans.**_

 _ **Reviews are highly appreciated, as always. Next chapter will have Al and Lola for sure. They are the hardest to write, I swear.**_

 _ **PS: I know this one is short, but bear with me. :)**_


	10. 10Of Family Secrets

_**A/N: This is sort of a DISCLAIMER for you guys. I have invented a bit of my own version of what we can call "The Magical History" in this chapter. I am sure it doesn't conform with what we know. But I went with my idea because I wanted to. So there. I am sorry if you don't like it. But I hope you do.**_

"Weasley- ooof! What the-" Scorpius exclaimed, stumbling after a very insistent Rose.

But Rose was not in the mood to leave him alone until she found a place not littered with their semi drunk peers, or worse sober ones. It was a bit difficult. It seemed as if half the student body was out of bed tonight. She huffed in frustration as she bumped into someone.

That frustration escalated as she realized who she had bumped into.

"Oh! Hello, Rose!" Viola Obst- The Vile Counterpart of Lily, exclaimed with all the fake sunny attitude she could muster. But all her cheeriness turned into something malicious as she looked who was standing behind Rose, holding her hand. "Well, well. Decided to finally give into that Malfoy charm, did we?"

"Did you need something Viola?" Rose ground out.

"Who? Me? Oh, no. Don't worry about me, Rose." Viola smiled her creepy smile again, came a little closer and held Rose's hand in hers. "Right now, your needs are more important than mine."

Rose's eyes went wide. She knew that Viola had hated her for longer than she could remember, but she never thought she would be so direct about it. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, you're excused, Rose. Believe me, I understand." Viola winked.

Rose couldn't believe the absurdity of this situation. Who would've thought that she would be getting into a pointless conversation with Viola Obst, out of all people, while she was with Scorpius?

Rose couldn't care what conclusions Viola was jumping to, but she couldn't afford the whole school gossiping about her. And it was safe to imagine that if Viola knew something, the whole school will find out about it soon enough. "Look, you've got it-"

But before she could finish that sentence, Malfoy started dry heaving and choked out a horrifying, "Get me out of here, Weasley. Or kiss your pointy shoes good bye."

"Ew! Don't let him puke here, Rose!" Viola's face twisted with horror.

"yeah, I.." Rose trailed off, because by then Viola had scurried away, leaving Rose behind with a still retching Scorpius. "Huh."

"Is she gone?" Scorpius asked.

"Yeah."

"Good." Scorpius sighed, sagging against the wall. "I don't like her. She is nosy."

Rose smiled at that. "You're not the only one. Come on. Let's get you to your dorm."

Scorpius' eyes became sorrowful again as he said, "Do you mind if we sit here for a few minutes? All that fake puking makes me tired."

Rose wasn't sure how to respond to that. It seemed like the absurdity of the night was decidedly continuing. So, she took a sit beside Malfoy on the floor.

He didn't say anything at first. Just tapped his fingers on the floor with no particular rhythm to it. It was weird. And peaceful at the same time.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked him quietly, looking at Scorpius, tap-tap-tapping fingers. The tapping seized immediately. But he didn't respond at first.

"No, I am not alright." Scorpius said eventually. "I am a mess."

Rose decided to stay quiet. She wasn't sure what aspect of their rocky truce this was, but she wanted to be nice to him. He seemed like he needed the niceness. So, she remained quiet while she waited for him to continue.

He took it in encouragement. Because he slowly began his tale then.

* * *

 _It was the Summer of our Second year. It was my birthday, and I had just turned thirteen. My mother had gone all out with the celebration. All my friends were there. Albus was there as well. We were all playing a little game of Quidditch in the garden. It was an unusual event for Malfoy Manor. We didn't have birthday parties. My father once told me that he had never been allowed to have one as a child. Therefore, my mother had gone quite overboard in her preparations, as only she could._

 _Our game had escalated quickly into a bit of a "bloodbath" as Coraline and Bart had started a brawl right in the middle of it. They were quite comfortable with throwing the bludger at each other._

" _Bugger off, Bartholomew! Or I swear I will kick you in the nutters!" Cora screeched at Bart, who was holding the Quaffle now, ready to strike._

" _Well, you shouldn't have called me a brat then, should you?" Bart sneered back._

" _Knock it off, Bart." Roman, the sound of reason as always, was trying to negotiate. I didn't see why he bothered. It was best to stand aside and let those two run their course. And that's precisely what I chose to do along with Emma Harris and Carson Talbot, my friends from before Hogwarts._

 _Bart had a mind of his own. He threw the Quaffle with utter strength and Cora dodged it quite expertly. But Albus, who was inspecting some sort of an insect on a plant during the entire interlude, got hit on the back and fell on the ground. He even managed to scrape his knees in the entire incident._

" _Ouch!" Albus rubbed his head, looking at everyone in confusion. "What on Earth are you lot up to?" I helped him get off the ground._

" _Sorry, Al. It was nothing. Are you alright?" Cora asked worriedly._

" _Yes, I just- ow."_

" _You should tape your knee or something, mate." Bart said, frowning._

" _Move aside, Bart." I said hastily. "Let's go, Al. We can ask mum what to do."_

 _And off we went to find my mother. Now, if you'd ever been to the Manor, you would know that finding anything, or anyone in that place is really, quite easy. The reason is, it's built like a giant echo chamber with many halls and rooms. So, you could be anywhere, but you would be able to find people if they are talking. I don't know why my ancestors decided to make it that way, though. I will never understand the logic behind it. But then again, I don't understand most of their logic anyway. So, really. No surprises there._

 _We found my mum in the library. I was about to call her, but I stopped. Because she wasn't alone. She was speaking to someone. It was my father. And the reason why I didn't dare call my mum was because they were clearly arguing._

 _Albus and I hid behind one of the shelves in a dark corner. Actually, now that I think of it, we should have left the library right then. I don't regret eavesdropping on my parents. But I regret the fact that I did it with Albus. I should have taken him out of there. I should have waited for my mum in my room. I should have tried to find the damn injury box by myself. I should've. Should have. Huh. There are a lot of things I would've done differently if I'd known all of my "should haves" my entire life. But I couldn't move. I was transfixed._

 _It sounds stupid now, I guess. Whose parents don't argue, right? It's something that comes with having parents. Their arguments, I mean. But mine were different. I had never seen or heard them having an argument before. But then again, I hadn't known much about Muffliato either. The fact is whether you're hearing your parents arguing for the first time or the hundredth, it's never, ever easy. It always feels like you are being punched in the face by an invisible force repeatedly._

" _No, Astoria," my father, who was always composed, said angrily, "I will never let it happen, no matter what you say."_

" _It's not your decision, Draco! I am the mother! I should be able to decide what I chose with my child as much as you." I could tell that mum was crying because she was sniffling._

 _I didn't know what this was about, but my hands were clenched in tight fists._

" _It will be alright. Please, Draco." My mother pleaded. "Please, let me tell Scorpius about this. He will be so-"_

" _Scorpius won't know about it because this- this_ thing, _it won't be coming to fruition. I will make sure it doesn't." My father said in a clipped tone._

" _It's not a_ thing, _Draco Malfoy." If I had not heard my mother snarl before, I heard it then. "She is my_ child. Our _child. If you- if you ever say something like that I will-" She never finished that sentence. The tears were too much for her to go on._

 _My father hugged my weeping mother tightly. There was so much pain in his eyes. I didn't understand it. I didn't understand any of it._

" _I wish we could be a normal family, Draco. I wish we were normal, just like the Bates next doors. I wish our only worry was our dog trying to destroy the neighbour's fence. Or that our boy was flunking at school. I wish you were just a boy. And I, just a girl. I wish there was no magic. I wish there was no curse."_

" _I am sorry, Astoria. I am so sorry." He said quietly. "I wish I could give you that. I wish I could keep you and Scorpius safe. Always."_

" _Scorpius and her." Mother said with a glint of determination in her eyes. "You have to promise me, Draco. Promise me you will take care of her, you will love her if-"_

" _Shh. Shh. Hush now, luv." Father murmured, holding her tight._

" _Scorp." Albus whispered. "Come on, mate. Let's go."_

 _I looked at my friend, suddenly remembering his presence._

" _What are they talking about, Al?" I asked stupidly._

 _I could see the look of pity in his eyes then. He patted my shoulder and said, "You can ask them later. For now, let's just go."_

" _But your knee-"_

 _He didn't let me finish. We were already out of the library. The rest of that day went by in a blur. I can't even remember much of it. All I do remember is having this dull ache in the back of my head you get only when you can feel the planes of your life shifting, rearranging themselves into a new reality._

 _I didn't know then just how much my life was going to change._

* * *

Rose stared at Scorpius, unable to decide what to say. She wasn't sure if there even was anything to say in that moment. Scorpius was sitting cross legged on the floor, the back of his head resting against the wall, eyes closed, his fingers drawing invisible patterns on the ground.

"Turns out, there is a curse in my family." Scorpius said dryly, eyes still closed. "A Malfoy wife can give birth to only one living child in her life time. Male or female, doesn't matter. Although we haven't had a girl in the family since the curse."

 _That's barbaric,_ Rose wanted to say. But she didn't. "And what happens if she has more than one?"

"She dies."

* * *

Unaware of the emotional storm his friend was going through, Albus was sitting by the fireplace of an uncharacteristically empty Gryffindor Common Room with Roxanne Weasley. Compared to all the Weasley girls, Roxanne was a sweet, quiet girl. She had an uncanny ability to blend in the background.

Weirdly, in their huge family, she was the one Albus knew the least about. Partly, because Roxanne never came to him with her problems like all the others. But from what he _did_ know about her had made him certain that losing today's game hadn't been easy on her at all. Albus could empathize. Because he had lost his first game, too. It was against Gryffindor. And naturally, James, the nasty little bugger that he was, had made a point of rubbing it in poor Al's face.

"Check." Roxanne said delightedly, making her move on the chessboard. Albus was sure that he was going to lose one as well. Roxanne may have failed to catch that Snitch, but she was definitely kicking his arse in Wizarding chess.

Albus held up his hands in defeat. "You know what, Rox? I give up. My fragile ego can't take it."

Roxanne giggled in response. "I am just trying to help you come back to the world of us mortals by bruising your ego a bit. After today's game…" She trailed off. She didn't sound particularly wounded anymore.

"Why, thank you, Miss Roxy! I appreciate your concern." Albus grinned.

"No, seriously though, Albus." Roxanne said, a ghost of a smile lingering on her lips. "Why are you _here_? Shouldn't you be at the party?"

Albus sighed, "I don't feel like being around people right now." He said honestly. I had a suspicion that telling Roxanne the truth was not a bad idea, that she would understand. "I don't think anyone will even notice I am not there."

Roxanne was a wise thirteen year old. She didn't pry any further. Instead, she got off the chair and asked Al to do the same. "I think I am hungry now, Al. Do you mind accompanying me to the Kitchens?"

* * *

"What- but- _How_?" Rose stuttered. She knew that the Malfoys had a wonky history. But this was a bit too much.

"That is the thing. Nobody knows. Or _knew,_ I should say. I think my Dad was worried that Mum would die in childbirth. But she lived through that. I am guessing that my parents thought they had beat the curse then. But a few days later, mum started having these red blotches all over the body. These big, angry red swellings. At first, it was just her legs and arms. Later, they started showing up on her face. Sometimes, they would go away. And she would feel better. But then after a few good weeks, it will start all over again. Always worse than last time. Since last six months, her breathing has been laboured. She hasn't been able to eat much because she says she can't swallow. It's only a matter of days, they're saying." His breathing hitched a bit.

Rose squeezed her hand, trying to channel as much sympathy and strength she could in that gesture. They weren't friends. But she wouldn't be able to bear seeing anyone in such pain.

"Ireland is four. Four! I don't think she even knows what's happening with mum. I don't think Dad even let's her see my mum. Just like he doesn't let _me_ see her." Scorpius said bitterly.

"What do you mean he won't let you see your mum?"

"It means that it's the law of Draco Malfoy, Rose." Scorpius said, his voice getting a bit hysterical. "It means that he blames my sister for what is happening to my mother. And he is punishing her for that. As for me, I am supposed to be the older one. I am supposed to study. Take responsibility for my future, which mostly means not get distracted by the fact that my mother might as well be dead. Or that my little sister is being cared for some woman who doesn't even know the first thing about her." Scorpius clenched his eyes shut, trying to hold back the tears.

"You know, the funny thing is, contrary to popular belief, my father is one of the best men I have ever known. He isn't this monstrous ex-Death Eater that everyone seems to think him as." Scorpius laughed bitterly. "He loves me. He loves my mother. And I think he wants to love my sister, too. But he has just had a really shitty life. Period. I think his ability to deal with all that shit has deteriorated over the years."

They sat there quietly for a few moments. Rose waited for Scorpius to calm down a bit, her fingers intertwined with his. She was aware of that little bit of intimacy. But in that moment, it just felt too right, too real.

"I am so sorry, Scorpius." Rose whispered.

Scorpius just shook his head in response. "Ah." He breathed deeply, braving a smile. "I'll be alright, Weasley. Hey, look at you. If I'd known that telling you my life story would make you call me by my first name, I would have done it sooner."

Rose rolled her eyes at him, and swatted him on the shoulder. Then turning fully facing him, she looked in her eyes, and said earnestly, "I know that we have never gotten along, but I promise you this. If you _ever_ want to talk, I am here."

"I don't want your sympathy, Rose." Scorpius murmured, hurt apparent in his eyes.

"It's not sympathy, Scorpius. I am just tired of fighting with you. I am so tired of it. I feel that we could give this friendship thing a go for real this time, you know. And I think you could use a few friends in your life right now."

"Hmm." Scorpius pretended to contemplate the idea. Then smiled a small smile at her. "I think I could, too."

* * *

Viola Obst was drunk. And horny.

Why won't Albus ever look at her? Why won't he see how much she loved him? How she had chosen to wear Slytherin colours for him at the party tonight? Every single boy lusted over Viola Obst in this school. Then why couldn't Albus see it?

And where on Earth _was_ Albus anyway? She had been trying to find him since the beginning of the party. But now she was just lurking in these corridors. Alone. Drunk. Bumping into the likes of Rose Weasley.

Viola gripped one of the pillars to keep herself from falling. Alcohol had never hit her this hard before. As the world began to spin and that horrible nausea hit her with a fresh wave, she cursed herself for not having stopped at the second glass of whatever abomination that idiot Bart Nott had created in the punch bowl.

That is when she heard it. The scratching on the wall. Whatever it was, it was close. Because the scratching was getting louder. And faster.

"Who is-" Viola hiccupped. "Who is there?"

It stopped. Viola couldn't see much ahead of her. It was dark. She didn't like being in the dark. Her breathing got laboured a bit. She rummaged through her robe for her wand.

And then it pounced.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Please review! They are very helpful!**_


	11. Of Wet Dreams

_Hogwarts Herald_

 _12_ _th_ _October 2022_

 _Page 1_

 _ **VIOLENCE ON VIOLA: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?**_

 _ **By Apple Skeeter**_

 _Hogwarts is the safest place on Earth._

 _It's something we've all grown up hearing. Despite of her bloody history, Hogwarts is truly regarded as a place where us, and all the witches and wizards before us have felt cocooned in a keen sense of security. But is it really safe anymore?_

 _That's a question which is once again haunting the student body, and those associated with them, as Viola Davis, the fifth-year Gryffindor socialite was attacked by an unknown, brutal force. What really happened to Viola at a night when more than a half of students were out of their bed?_

 _As I sit at Viola's bedside in the Hospital Wing, she is sipping herbal tea from her mug, looking comfortable under her covers. Almost all of her left side is tapped up in bandages. She offers me her herbal tea. When I decline, she frowns at me, asking if I am one of those coffee drinkers. When I say that I am she says, "Herbal tea is better, you know. Very good for your skin."_

 _There is a certain charm to even an injured Viola Obst._

 _AS: So, would you mind walking me through what happened that night?_

 _VO: I was walking through the halls when I heard scratching sounds. It scared me. I took out my wand to cast some light. It was eerily dark._

 _AS: What happened next?_

 _VO: (shuddering) It's hard to talk about this. (At this Viola draws a shaky breath. The fear is apparent on her face.) I didn't get to my wand on time. There was something there in the dark, waiting. I didn't see what it was, but the scratching sound ought to have been that thing. Because this- (pointing to her left side) it did this to me._

 _After this, I thought of terminating my interview then and there. But Miss Obst was brave enough to continue with her story._

 _AS: Do you remember anything about this mysterious attacker?_

 _VO: All I remember is blue eyes…they were big blue eyes, shaped like a cat's. After that I passed out._

 _Viola doesn't remember anything else about her Blue Eyed Monster. And neither can her saviour who came to her aid that night. Albus Potter was out in the hallway when he heard her screams and rushed to help. He refuses to comment on the subject, which we find a bit peculiar. However, the question still remains is the identity of this Blue Eyed Monster. What is it, really? And what are the authorities doing about what transpired that night, apart from giving detentions to the entire student body for being out of the bed at late night? Is that the right action to take in such circumstances? We are still trying to figure out the answers to all of these questions._

* * *

Albus stared into his coffee absent-mindedly. Already he was feeling tired of the week; and it was just Wednesday. People were still whispering about the whole Viola incident. Not that he blamed them. It wasn't every day when students got attacked in Hogwarts. At least not since many years now.

Someone threw a copy of Herald in front of him. He looked up from his coffee to see Rose plopping down on the empty seat beside him. "Have you seen it yet?" She asked, picking up a strawberry from the fruit platter on the table.

"By all means, help yourself, Rose." Scorpius murmured, not unkindly.

"Oh, you may count on it, Scorpius." Rose smiled cheekily at him.

Albus sat there silently, observing this exchange. Odd.

He didn't bother answering Rose's question. He had seen this coming. Every time Albus starred in Herald, Rose made it her mission to drag Albus into a discussion about it. And of course, he had starred in this issue. Scorpius had even warned him.

"I don't want to read it, Rose." Albus sighed. "I don't care."

"Well, you should. Skeeter has made you sound like an absolute prat! Like you are too full of yourself or something." Rose said crossly. "I don't understand what the Herald has against people who want a bit of privacy, you know. No offense, Scorpius." She added quickly.

Scorpius, his mouth full of waffles, just waved in dismissal and went back to his plate.

"It's her job, Rose. It's what she does. And besides, unlike most of Herald's crap, this is a serious matter."

Scorpius snorted at this. "Unbelievable. Now you're defending Apple Skeeter."

"Well, someone has to." Albus narrowed his eyes at him. "She is just writing what she got from Viola. And why didn't you stop her if you don't like it either?"

"It's too much work." Scorpius drawled. "I'd rather argue with that Fat Lady in the Gryffindor portrait than get into it with Skeeter."

Rose squinted at Scorpius. "How do _you_ know about The Fat Lady?"

"I have my resources. But," Scorpius smirked at her. "There are more important matters at hand here, Rose. Concentrate."

Rose rolled her eyes at his non-answer and turned towards a bewildered Albus. "What really happened out there, Al? Did you see this- this-"

"Blue Eyed Monster." Scorpius supplied.

"Merlin, that's an awful name." Rose muttered.

"It was gone by the time I reached there." Albus said, sipping his coffee. "All I saw was an unconscious Viola."

The finality in his voice shut down the conversation. But both Rose and Scorpius had an inkling that Albus was not telling the truth.

* * *

Lily should have felt scared. No, scratch that. She was Lily Potter. Nothing would scare her. But she should have at _least_ felt threatened. But all she felt was a manic sort of excitement coursing through her sixteen-year-old self as her back hit the wall.

"I will let you go, Lily." A deep, vaguely familiar voice caressed her. "If you do as I say, I will let you go. Can you do that, hmm?"

Her mystery lover smelled so familiar. Like woods. She didn't know how to answer his question. She would have never let someone overpower her like that. But there was something about this stranger.

"No." Lily whispered adamantly. She was not ready to succumb. She wanted to play.

The stranger chuckled darkly, "You never listen, do you, Lil?" His lips brushed hers lightly, making Lily shudder.

All this teasing was getting on her nerves. He had been at it since who knew how long. Lily decided to take the matters in her own hand as she grabbed his collar impatiently to finish what he had started. It seemed like she had done the right thing, because he responded with equal urgency, one of his hands tugging her hair gently and the other in a tight grasp around her waist. His lips were soft, but his cheeks were rough, gritting against hers as their lips broke apart, to draw quick shaky breaths. His face buried somewhere between her neck and her jaw.

Oh, it was all so very delicious. Then he shook her shoulder saying, "Lily."

Lily grabbed his collar to bring his mouth to hers again. Talking was overrated anyway.

"Lily! What are you-"

* * *

Lily's eyes flew open to two dark brown orbs boring at her in confusion. That wasn't the right look for Lorcan Scamander. And why was he on top of her in the bright day light anyway? Why was he _here._ Huge question mark. Last she remembered, she was in a dark corridor, having the time of her life with her tall, dark and potentially handsome.

And that thought brought her to the present tense. She was not, in fact, in a dark corridor. She was under "her tree" near the Black Lake. And she had clearly been dreaming about a certain someone, whose collar was still clutched in her hands.

Lorcan gently freed her collar from Lily's hand and said, "I thought you were having a bad dream."

Lily adjusted herself to a sitting position and brought her hands to her awfully warm cheeks. "No, I'm good." She mumbled.

Lorcan smiled at her, frowning a little. "You don't look fine, Lily."

"It's just-" Lily fanned herself. "It's awfully warm here, isn't it? Yes. That's it. I'm hot. I mean- not _hot_ , hot. I am not _that_ conceited. You know. Hot. I am so hot! Whew! I think I need to get out of here! I need me some fresh air!" Lily got to her feet, avoiding Lorcan's gaze. Him towering over her wasn't helping her predicament anyway.

"You _are_ outside, Lily." Lorcan said calmly. Lily had been acting very strange since some time now. And her colour was rising to an alarming proportion.

"Right." Lily cleared her throat. "I'm going to-" she made a weird clucking noise pointing her fingers violently at the castle. "Yes. Ahem. I'm going to go."

Lorcan wasn't sure what to say to her. He just frowned at her some more. Lily made her way towards the castle hastily. She faintly Lorcan's urgent "Lily! Wait!" behind her.

* * *

Viola Obst was bored. This wasn't bed rest. This was bed arrest. And the blasted healer didn't seem like she was ready to let her leave this place any time soon. And her left hand hurt. This whole thing was a disaster. The only thing that came out of it was the fact that Albus Potter was the one who had come to her rescue. Sigh.

The door to the Hospital Wing swung open, making Viola twist her neck to find Lily Potter hurrying towards her.

Lily silently dropped her bad near Viola's feet, dragged a chair close to her friend, and said in a breathless voice, "Hi."

Viola just stared at her blankly. "You are red as a tomato, Lily."

Lily just waved at her hand in dismissal. "How are you feeling, Vee?"

"Oh, you know. Trapped." Viola sighed. "I wish I could get out of this horrible place."

Lily held her hand to show support. "I'm sure they will let you out soon. So, tell me. Who has come to visit you today? Aside from me, of course."

"Not Albus. That's who." Viola whined.

"I'm sure he had a good reason not to, Vee." Lily said mildly. "He is probably just sulking somewhere anyway. I saw him and Rose having an argument during breakfast today."

That caught Viola's interest. She looked at Lily with a peculiar gleam. "Speaking of your bitch of a cousin-"

"Hey!" Lily protested.

"I have something quite interesting to share with you about her."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hi there! I am sorry for cutting this one a little short. I felt like this was the place to stop here. Just wanted to thank y'all for your reviews/follows/favourites. They had me smiling like a loon! As a side note, writing hot scenes is a pain in my beautiful behind, I swear. So, if anyone has any constructive criticism, please keep 'em coming my way.**_

 _ **To harrypotterchick: IKR! Thanks for your review! I hope you like it enough to keep reading.**_


	12. Of Post-detention Confrontations

Rose rubbed the trophy in her hands violently, hating every minute of this stupid detention. This was clearly a _massive_ waste of her time. Deep down she knew that she was at as much fault as the next student (which would be Cora Humphrey, by the way, who seemed equally irritated with the task at hand). But she still wished that McGonagall could have gone easier on her since she was obviously her favourite. She was a model student. And ironically, that was the first time she had been out of bed when she should not have been, that too for a Slytherin party, hanging out with Scorpius Malfoy. She shuddered at the line of thoughts her mind had picked to follow at that moment, and paled a little as she realised how self-absorbed she was being, as always. Everyone was at detention at that moment. And they would all continue to be so until McGonagall was satisfied with the whole business.

Bartholomew, who was supposed to have been cleaning the broom closet on the second floor sauntered into the trophy room, and swatted Cora on the butt with his washcloth. Cora stopped in her tracks, turned around and glared daggers at him. He just grinned in response.

"Not a good time, Brat." Cora ground out.

"Oh, come on, Corey. I'm bored." Bart complained. "This whole business is nothing but a waste of my precious time. Won't you indulge me with your delightful wit? Hmm?"

"Your precious time, huh?" Cora spat. And then got closer to him, hissing something that Rose couldn't quite catch.

She had never seen those two having a civil conversation ever. They were always arguing. In fact, it almost seemed like Bart _liked_ provoking her into a fight. And Cora liked putting him in his place, too. It had sometimes made her wonder if there was more to those two. It was odd, though. Who fights that much for no reason, anyway?

Her question was answered by a presence by her side, reminding her that she wasn't so different from those two.

"Eavesdropping, are we now?" Scorpius murmured.

Rose scoffed in response. "It's hard not to when they are fighting right in front of me."

Scorpius' lips curled into a delicious grin, "They are always like that. Just ignore them."

Rose leaned against one of the trophy racks and sighed, "So? Is this where Old Filch has stationed you for duty tonight?" She asked, "I didn't see you here earlier."

"Yeah. But I was way over there," He pointed towards the opposite side of the room, where a couple of fifth years were scuttling about. Lily was one of them, who was looking at Rose with interest. Rose waved at her in greeting. Lily just winked and smiled coyly at her in response.

Rose didn't even want to know what _that_ was about. But Scorpius seemed to know all about it, apparently. Because he was suddenly looking very pale.

"What?" Rose asked her in confusion. "What is it?"

Scorpius averted his eyes from hers, looking around at no one in particular. "It's nothing."

"Obviously, it's something."

"It's just Lily being a prat." He said shortly.

"Oh well," Rose shook her head with an utter sense of resignation. "Colour me surprise."

"Umm, y-"

His sentence was cut short by Cody Winslow, the fourth year Ravenclaw suddenly appearing in the doorway, out of breath. "Get to work, you lot. Old Filch-"

"Catch your breath, mate." Scorpius said mildly.

Cody just shook his head in response. "There's no time for that. Old Filch is on a quest to inspect our work."

That made everyone moving frantically. Filch showed up walking at a snail's pace, snarling at the world in general, followed by Hagrid.

"Did I hear ya lot chatting here?" he asked the room.

Nobody chose to answer, of course. Nobody liked Old Filch. He was a bitter old man.

"Come on, . Don't yeh see these youn'uns goin' at it with yer precious trophies, eh? Let's leave'em alone, I say!" Hagrid said hastily, winking at Scorpius in the process. Scorpius gave him a small smile in response and got back to his work.

Filch stood there for a bit, glaring at everyone, as if to make sure Hagrid was telling the truth, then left muttering under his breath.

Scorpius sighed in relief. Crisis averted, in more than one way. He snuck a glance at Lily and found her smirking at him. That little brat! He wasn't sure how she had figured it out. But he was not going to let her get to him that easily. He decided that he would avoid all contact with Lily during the remainder of the evening.

They all continued to work on for the next forty minutes or so with minimal interaction, when McGonagall herself showed up to relieve them off their detention for the night.

"That's quite enough, I suppose." The Headmistress said. "Off to bed now, children!"

Everyone looked at the Headmistress curiously as they left the room. Scorpius placed his rag carefully in a bucket and made his way to leave, when McGonagall said to him in a quiet voice, "Not you, . There is something that you and I must discuss at once."

* * *

Lily was not an athlete. She had started Quidditch as a desperate attempt to be neck to neck with her brothers, which if she knew anything about her father, she would have known not to do so in the first place. As the youngest Potter child, she was in a whole different league in his father's eyes, which was something her mother strongly disapproved of. All these years of spoilage had turned her into what James often liked to call "a lazy brat" (one thing both Potter boys agreed on). And it wasn't entirely untrue either. Lily _was_ lazy, at least when it came to physical activity. Her friends were jealous of her, and would often say that her fast metabolism was her saving grace.

Rose, however, was a born athlete. She had loved to run and play since she was a little girl.

That could have been Rose's saving grace in their current predicament. Because Rose had run off the moment McGonagall uttered the word "go". Of course, Rose had figured out Lily was up to something. She wasn't daft. She should've known better, though. Because nothing could beat a Lily on a mission.

"Slow-" Lily wheezed. "Slow down, Rose!"

Rose, who knew when she was beaten, slowed down and groaned audibly.

Lily joined her and looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Did you think I was going to just let you run off like that?"

"No, but a girl can hope, can't she?" Rose said crossly.

"Rosie, Rosie, Rosie," Lily said in a singsong voice. "Don't you know? Running away is a proof of guilt." She smiled a shit eating grin that always made Rose break a sweat. Because it was never a good sign.

"Seriously, Lil. Can we chat later?" Rose said quickly. "I am so tired."

"Oh, no, no. Dear cousin. Not that easily." Lily said. Then she smiled a real smile, her whole Cheshire Cat routine fading a little. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you. I just came to say that your secret is safe."

Rose just frowned in confusion. "What in Godric's name are you on about, Lily?"

"Come on, Rose. Don't play coy with your favourite cousin now." Lily said airily. "I know all about your late night rendezvous with a certain dishy little Slytherin."

Rose's face was stricken with a mixture of fear and confusion. Although, the fear of what, she knew not. But the confusion cleared up pretty soon as she joined the dots mentally. And then said, "It wasn't how Viola's told you. Scorpius just needed some help going to the dungeons. That's all there was to it."

"Ooooh. It's Scorpius now, huh?" Lily grinned.

"It's not like that. We are just friends."

"Ooooh! Just f-"

"Oh, come off it, you." Rose grumbled.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry." Lily held up her hands in submission. "I was just teasing you."

"Yes, well. There's nothing to tease about, really."

"I know." Lily sighed. "Look, all I am saying is, I asked Viola to keep her mouth shut about whatever she thinks she saw. But I will say this. Even if it were true, I would support you, you know. No matter who that boy would be. I know that you don't like to date much. But I think you're terrific, Rose. And you _should_ date more."

Rose just sighed in resignation. "Thanks, Lil. It's just- I'm not very good with that kind of thing. I mean, what if I don't find anyone? Or worse! What if I find someone who turns out to be just awful!"

Lily didn't say anything right away. After a moment of thinking, she looked at Rose with a sense of newfound purpose. "I have someone who is just perfect for you."

"Who?"

"What do you think of Lorcan Scamander?"

* * *

"Mr Malfoy," McGonagall nodded at Scorpius in acknowledgement, "Thank you for staying back."

Scorpius smiled at her politely and said, "Professor, how may I help?"

It had taken some time, but she had grown fond of this boy. Underneath the heavy burden of being the Headmistress of Hogwarts, she was just an old woman who had seen many ups and down in her time. Many of the downs had involved the family of the wonderful boy standing in front of her. But he had successfully broken down all those prejudices in her mind, prejudices she wasn't particularly proud of possessing.

"It has come to my attention that your mother is terrible ill, Mr Malfoy." She began quietly. "And I understand that you wish to see her, but your affairs here are responsible for holding you back from asking me for permission."

"My f- I believe," Scorpius corrected. "That if I leave my schoolwork unattended, it will cause her further distress."

"Your education is important, Mr Malfoy. But family is more important." McGonagall began. "You may go and visit your mother for a week. I will lend you my fireplace to floo to your home. Your father has been notified of your arrival, so there is nothing to worry about. Your classwork will be owled to you by one of your classmates. You may leave tomorrow if you wish."

"But we have Mr Potter's Patronus lesson next Thursday." Scorpius managed to choke out.

"It's a four-hour-long class," McGonagall said dismissively. "It shouldn't be difficult for you to return for that class and then go back."

"Yes, Professor." Scorpius nodded and then blurted a hasty, "Thank you."

"You're quite welcome, Scorpius." She smiled a rare smile. "Alright, now. Off you go."

"Good night, Professor." Scorpius smiled in return as he left the room.

He was finally going to see his mum. And he had no one but Rose Weasley to be thankful to.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Just a little treat from yours truly (which admittedly, did not have any romantic bits at all, but still). I hope you liked the chapter. Please, review/comment!**_

 _ **To the guest reviewer: I love Lily, too. And I am worried that this is quickly turning into a Lily/Lorcan fic. But I like where it's going for now (am I allowed to say that? I dunno). Thanks for the review!**_


	13. Of monsters and other matters

_Friday night mass detention truly ought to have been an extinct practice by now_ , Albus thought bitterly as he paced in the Room of Requirement, running fingers through his hair, a habit that added to the overall messiness of his hair; not that Albus had ever cared what he looked like. Tonight however, he halted to check his reflection in the window glass, gazing at a narrow long face with high cheekbones and a slightly pointed chin, a straight nose with square thick black framed glasses perched on top of that nose; and through those glasses, two peculiar green eyes looking a bit weary and anxious. He had a slight stubble on his jaw, but not too much; just enough to give him an appearance of someone standing smack on that border distinguishing a boy from a man. Albus was tall, taller than most boys in his years. But he was lean like a swimmer or more specifically a Seeker. James often joked that Albus would have been a looker as a girl with his long legs, earning a hard glare from his serious younger brother.

Albus sighed at the sight of his hair and tried to flatten a wayward strand without much success. He wasn't sure why he cared. Actually, that was a lie. He kind of knew. He just didn't want to admit it. It was a certain blond haired blue-eyed girl who had him acting like, well, James. But he knew this was a fatal attraction, knowing what he knew about that girl.

As if on cue, Lola entered the room and closed the door behind her hastily. She wasn't scared, but she sure seemed a bit agitated; Albus could tell from the way her shoulders were hunched and her right hand was clutching her skirt. In all honesty, Albus hadn't expected her to show up at all. But the very fact that she was here despite of what had transpired the last time she had had an encounter with Albus spoke volumes about her courage.

She watched him cautiously, never looking away. It was an entire conversation between two pairs of eyes. Blue to green. Like sea to the forest.

After a moment, Albus' face broke into a tentative smile. "Hi," he said pleasantly.

"Hi." Lola mumbled.

"Do you want to sit?"

Albus moved the pillows on the couch to make a comfortable spot for Lola, when she blurted out, "What do you want, Albus?"

"I just want to talk." Albus said, the smile still flirting to break out at the corners of his mouth.

Lola shuffled on her feet as she said, "Look, if it's alright with you, I would really like to go back and sleep now. I am tired from the detention. Filch is a menace to the world. I have never cleaned floors for such a long time- well, actually, I have. At home, but-" And she stopped abruptly, realizing that she had probably said more than she should have.

"You clean floors at your home?" Albus frowned.

"No." She said in a clipped tone.

Albus wanted to point out that that is exactly what she had said, but decided against it. He would find out about her trials at her home. But right now there were other pressing matters at hand. He took a deep breath and said, "I want you to tell me what you are."

Lola was a bit surprised by his directness, but then again, she had asked for it. And on all accounts, she had expected this question.

She sighed and asked somberly, "How much do you know about Animagus Transfiguration?"

"Not a whole lot." Albus said. "It's an acquired skill which requires a witch or a wizard to fully grasp the concept of such a complex magic. Its an involuntary transformation and it doesn't make a person lose their human consciousness once transformed."

"That is correct," Lola said, sounding impressed. "Do you know the process?"

"Uh…something to do with mandrake leaves and a spell and a potion?"

"More or less," Lola smiled. "Its actually pretty complex. And it is not recommended unless you absolutely need it."

"Why are you telling me all of this? What I saw wasn't—"

"I know," she said quietly. "It was much worse. I am not an Animagus. I wish I was. Life would have been much simpler that way."

And Lola began to tell her story then.

* * *

 _People don't know much about my father. Mostly because he wasn't a significant part of the war, but also because he is very good at staying hidden. He is a master at blending in. Nobody paid attention to Theo Nott at school. He wasn't the cleverest, but he was clever enough. He wasn't the handsomest, but he could be charming when the need arose. He wasn't on the Quidditch team. He was a quiet Slytherin boy who went about his own business making sure he was playing his part without bringing attention to himself. He wasn't devout to the Dark Lord like the rest of those lunatics. He had no interest in a war which was going to end badly for him no matter what. Notts, after all, were Death Eaters and would still be under the thumb of that genocidal maniac if he ended up winning. Theodore didn't want that kind of life for himself. No. He wanted to be an academic. He wanted to learn something that went beyond the confining walls of Hogwarts and the life of a typical Pure Blood. He wanted to be the first to discover something that would make his name immortal._

 _No. Father had no interest in Lord Voldemort and his petty vision. He had a bigger fish to fry._

 _When he was eighteen, and the war was over, father left his home and the life as he knew it behind to go and live in the countryside. I am not sure why, I don't have any particulars on why he chose to live in a cottage in the middle of nowhere. You should know from here on: there are major chunks of the story that are missing from my memory, or Bart and Roman's in fact, which leads me to suspect that our memories had been tempered with at some point—or rather, several some points during the Sessions._

 _Anyway, we were born some time after he turned about twenty five. We don't know who our mother is though. Father says she died giving birth to us. But there is no proof to that. When I was thirteen, I tried to sneak into his study to find a photograph or any of her mementoes there. But I was caught. The outcome was not pleasant._

 _You have to understand. He is our father, as far as the biology of it is concerned. But in the true sense, he is more of our creator. We might be his children, but we are his subjects first. Or at least, we were, until he messed up. Now we are just burdens, particularly me, the living proof of his failure._

 _I know that you want me to tell you exactly what he did to me. But believe me: I don't know. He was trying to achieve something radical by modifying the magic of Animagus Transfiguration. But something went wrong. And it changed me. It changed everything, in fact._

 _That night with Viola, it was too dark for you to see me. And it is impossible for me to show it to you now. That's one of the perks of father's modification, by the way. My transformation is almost always involuntary. I could turn at any time, in a room full of people without knowing it. I have gotten a bit better at controlling the speed of that transformation over the years, which gives me some time to get away from people. It is not easy at all, though. I can also maintain my human consciousness now, thanks to Bart. He helped me with that. But I can't let anybody see me in my form, because it is deviant. It is…wrong. People don't react well to new things. Especially when they are hideous._

 _If anybody were to know about this, my father will kill me. He didn't even want to send me to Hogwarts. But Roman convinced him. In fact, I am pretty sure Roman saved my life. If it were upto my father, he would have killed me years ago. He hasn't been himself for some time. He has become cruel. And violent. He hates the sight of me. I am at my brothers' mercy when I am home. Always trapped in my room. That was Roman's idea. He believes that if I lay low, everything will be alright. Even here, at school, I don't interact with people. I go to my classes I do the whole thing. But I can't make friends. I can't go to parties. Most days I eat my meals in the kitchens. I am lucky the House Elves there like me enough to make me a plate. It is safer that way. For others and for me._

* * *

"So that's my story," Lola said with a deep sigh. "I'm just your garden variety freak."

Albus shook his head at her and said, "What happened that night with Viola, though?"

"Ah, yes. That is partly the reason why I decided to come here tonight. I wanted to clear the air about it," Lola said. "That wasn't me. I was kind of pissed off about not being able to go to your party—Roman literally warned me not to. So I decided to take a bit of a walk in the castle when I heard Viola scream. That caused me to change into my form. By the time I reached there, Viola was on the ground, and she looked like she was having a seizure. But before I could do anything else, you were there. So, I ran."

"You do know that Viola blames you, right? She has even given you a name- Blue Eyed Devil, I think."

"Monster. It's Blue Eyed Monster." Lola frowned, "I guess she blames me because I was the one she saw. But I felt something when I was there. I felt darkness and grief. It was horrible, Albus. I can't explain it properly, but it was the worst feeling in the world."

Albus nodded absentmindedly, deep in thought. "I have a meeting with McGonagall tomorrow. She will interrogate me about this. I don't know what to tell her anymore."

"You can't tell her about me, Albus." Lola said frantically. "If you do, I will be in a heap of trouble. Please. I didn't do anything. I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. You have to believe me."

"I do. I believe you. But if they don't know, they will keep blaming you. And trust me, eventually it will come out that you are their, well…" Albus trailed off, thoroughly embarrassed. He wasn't sure it would be polite to call someone a monster in their face.

"It's okay. You can say it. I don't mind." Lola gave a watery smile and looked away.

"No, I'm sorry people are calling you names," Albus said. "And its not true, you know."

"What's not true?" Lola asked, her voice threatening to break.

"You're not a monster," Albus said firmly and then quickly added, "And you are definitely not hideous."

Lola had no response to that. But after a moment she asked, "How did you know it was me? How did you recognize me that night?"

Albus gave a sheepish smile, "It was your eyes. They are…peculiar."

* * *

Rose kept drifting in and out of consciousness. For her it was one of those nights when you are just too tired to sleep. The conversation she had with Lily kept playing in her head. Lily was right. She needed to put herself out there. She needed to find herself a boyfriend before others started getting the wrong idea about herself and Scorpius. After all, Lily wasn't the only one who read more into things. There were other people who thought there was more to their mutual animosity. Even Amelia, who would be the last person to make such assumptions had said, "Maybe you are playing the game of negative reinforcement with yourself." She wasn't sure what that meant exactly, because Amelia was often prone to throwing complex psychological terms at her, but the essence of it was quite clear.

It was ridiculous, of course. Because, sure. Scorpius Malfoy is a shaggy blond haired, stormy grey eyed, fit looking bloke—and that was her unbiased, female-on-the-brink-of-her-sexual-prime opinion. Also, his deep and velvety voice was one his big selling points. Rose didn't know him well enough (yet), but she knew that he had a sense of humour buried somewhere in there. In a nutshell, if the question was: Was she in some kind of a complex psychological debate with herself about her feelings for Scorpius? No. But, was there a slightest chance in hell that some aspects of Scorpius Middle-name-unknown Malfoy appealed to some tiny, miniscule aspects of Rose Nymphadora Weasley? Why, yes. Alas, he did.

But what Lily suggested as a solution was outrageous. Dating Lorcan would be like dating herself. And that wasn't for the lack of trying. Nobody in her family knew this, but she and Lorcan had tried going on a date, "tried" being the operative word here. It was supposed to be one of her Hogsmeade trips in her fourth year. But instead they had ended up spending their evening in the library, because Lorcan had to finish some urgent literature review for Professor Abernathy in Ancient Runes. Rose was only too eager to oblige; after all, she had her own work in Arithmancy to catch up with. They had ended up helping each other. It was amiable enough. But it was not a date. It was more like a study session. Rose had gained a friend that day, someone who understood her love and need for the library. But she had lost yet another potential boyfriend. Usually it was Rose's bookishness that drove boys away from her; they always assumed that because Rose was studious and came from a famous family, she would be a snob. But in Lorcan's case, it should have worked. Only, it didn't. And she ended up gaining a study partner.

After that, she had tried dating a couple of other boys. Most notably Morgan Lee, a fellow Gryffindor whom she had started dating right after that non-date with Lorcan had been her longest relationship yet: Five months, three weeks, and four days. That wasn't bad. In fact, it worked well. Morgan was two years her senior. He was sweet and kind. He understood her. He was also her first kiss, and it was wonderful. But then Morgan went to Japan last summer, and ended up staying in Japan for his last school year. So they broke up. There were no hard feelings and they had parted as friends. But the very fact that Rose had felt no heartbreak in the aftermath of the relationship made her believe that she probably never loved him. If she did, maybe it was just a fleeting kind of love. Morgan still wrote to her sometimes, telling her stories about Japan. He asked her about school, Hugo, Quidditch…and it was nice. But again, Rose had lost a boyfriend, and gained a pen pal this time.

Over the course of that summer, she had started appreciating her newfound singledom, and decided to stay single. In her eyes, having a boyfriend was not essential for a fifteen year old. She had her OWLs to worry about, she had friends. And she wasn't unhappy. The only thing she missed perhaps, was kissing.

 _Maybe you should make Scorpius Malfoy your kissing friend. That way all your problems will be solved,_ said a snarky voice in her head. Rose shook that thought away. Stupid head.

She clearly needed to stop thinking about him. But she couldn't help it.

There is an ice cream shop near her grandparents' residence. In summers when she stayed a couple of weeks with them, her grandfather used to take her and Hugo to that ice cream shop every weekend. Her grandmother didn't like it. _Ice cream is bad for your teeth!_ She would say crankily. But grandpa would just huff in response and say, "Life is short, Jane. A little scoop isn't going to rot their teeth. And besides," he would look at them both with great pride, "These kids floss twice a day, don't you?" So, they would go to the ice cream shop. The shop would have these daily specials written on a blackboard. But these daily specials would always be cotton candy or vanilla & raisin and some such awful flavour. Reading these names, Rose would sigh in defeat, and ask for a scoop of whatever version of chocolate ice cream caught her fancy. She lost hope on that board after a few summers. One day, however, things changed. The board said "Chocolate chip cookie dough" in big bold letters. It felt like a birthday surprise. And Rose was over the moon for no reason.

Scorpius Malfoy was that blackboard for her. She always expected the worst from him. But recently she had been surprised. There was a certain tenderness to his overall undecipherable character. She had always seen him as Albus' friend, or the arrogant Slytherin, or someone who has got things he doesn't deserve. Until now, she had only looked at him with jealousy and contempt. And after a point, Scorpius had reciprocated with his complete indifference towards Rose, which had bothered her more often than she had liked. But she had begun to see that she had the capacity to affect him as much as he affected her. And that made her happy for no apparent reason.

Exactly like that blasted blackboard.

She decided to give up on sleep and picked up her wand from the bedside table when a soft clicking noise came from the window.

It was a handsome tawny owl with a little note tied to him. Rose let him in and fed him a treat as she saw who the note was from.

 _Rose,_

 _I appreciate your good intentions but I wish you hadn't interfered the way you did. Telling McGonagall about my personal issues is not something a potential friend would do. I don't mean to throw accusations at you as that is not in my nature. But there are things you don't know about, consequences that I will have to deal with tomorrow._

 _I will be going home tomorrow for a week to see my mother._

 _Good-bye._

 _Scorpius Malfoy._

Rose wasn't sure what made her more furious: what he had said or the way he had said it.

She picked up a parchment and scribbled hastily:

 _Scorpius,_

 _I think we need to talk before you leave tomorrow. Can you meet me in the Astronomy Tower in twenty minutes?_

 _-Rose Weasley._

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Hey, everyone! I'm back! And yes, this story is still alive. I am just a very slow (and an inspired-with-great-difficulty) kind of a writer. If you are still interested in reading, please stick with me. Your patience is deeply appreciated, as are your inputs. Please review and comment!_

 _PS: I am not sure how well written this chapter is. I went through it a million times. But I am awful at proofreading. Pardon me if there are any blunders._


	14. Of petty fights and confrontations

By the time Rose reached the Astronomy Tower, Scorpius was already there, pacing like a man outside a delivery room who is about to become a father. Still dressed in his school attire, his shirt was untucked, peeking out from under his sweater vest, and his usually immaculate hair a disarrayed mess. _Huh. Guess she wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep_ , mused Rose. Then she scolded herself. She wasn't here for an internal monologue dedicated to Scorpius Malfoy's current hardships. She was here because she needed to do some serious ballbusting.

"You." She said with much venom, which made Scorpius stop in his tracks and look at her. "How dare you call me a bad friend."

Scorpius pinched the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed and made this weird sound through his mouth that sounded something like "tch!" to Rose. It was the exact sound her mother often made at her dad's antics. It was a sound of resigned exasperation. "That's not—"

"Oh, no, no. You let me finish what I came here to say first." Rose said, starting to sound a lot like a mob boss from a bad mafia movie. "I am not a bad friend. I am a great friend. Ask anyone! In fact, I will have you know that my friend game is pretty on point. I was just trying to help you, which is something friends do for each other, in case Albus did a shoddy job of being one to you. Instead of seeing _that,_ you made me sound like a meddling shrew in your letter."

"Alright, now hold it, Weasley," Scorpius warned, then added sharply, "You are making a mountain out of a molehill here." He immediately regretted saying it, feeling like a bit of a hypocrite himself. He knew he had overreacted a tiny bit while writing that letter. But it was futile making Rose realise that when _she_ was overreacting as well. He could feel a fight bubbling inside of him, struggling to unleash. He could sense Rose reciprocating that feeling. The chips had fallen. All he could do now was give it as good as he was getting. And he would be lying if he said he wasn't asking for it. Hell, he _needed_ it. It was his therapy.

Rose just glared at him in response. They were a bit closer now, about a foot between the two of them. She had to look up slightly to give him the full impact of said glare. Rose wasn't exactly short. But she was definitely shorter than Scorpius, whose chin came to her forehead, or would come to her forehead if they were to stand that close.

 _What in the name of Earth was wrong with her? Why was she thinking about being close to Scorpius Malfoy?_

Scorpius, who was returning the glare with an intensity rivalling Rose's broke the silence with, "No matter what your intentions were, you shouldn't have talked to McGonagall about my private business without telling me first." He was unable to stop himself now. It was like watching a freak accident being unfurled in a slow motion in front of your eyes. Their fights were always like this. "I told you about things because I wanted you to understand why I was a dick to you that night we were with Louis. I was going through some shit, and I wanted to apologise the right way, by telling you the truth. I thought you'd understand. But instead you went ahead and blabbed to the Headmistress the first chance you got."

"Bloody hell, Malfoy! Are you even listening to me?" Her voice reaching an alarmingly high octave. "I did that to help you! Not because I had some perverse intention of outing your problems to the world to see."

"Well, I didn't ask for your help, did I?" Scorpius spat. Then he came closer to Rose, only about two inches between them, looking down into her eyes. "I don't need your pity, Weasley. Don't _ever_ do that again."

"Are you threatening me, Malfoy?"

 _Of course not,_ he thought, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment, which looked like angry splotches on his usually stark pale face. It was not an entirely pretty sight.

His involuntary assholery was coming out in waves. It was stupid. He knew it. His anger originated from other things like the impending death of his mother, life, circumstances, universe. But mostly- and he will never, ever admit this to anybody- he was embarrassed that he had completely disregarded the possibility that McGonagall would have agreed to let him go home even if he'd have asked her himself. He always held himself back whenever he wanted to ask for something here at Hogwarts. He always feared that he will get rejection from everyone because of who he was. And then Weasley had simply told McGonagall, and here he was, his bags packed, ready to leave in a few hours.

Realizing that this entire conversation was going in the direction of wierdville, he decided to cut his losses. Raking his hand through his hair, he said, "I have to go. I don't have time for this."

Rose gazed at his tired face with a pinched expression, and sudden bizarre urge to comfort him came over her. She pictured herself stabbing that stupid urge to death and said, "Yeah, me too. Have a nice trip back home, Malfoy."

With that, she made move to leave. Scorpius just stood there, his shoulders hunched. He looked utterly defeated. Rose felt that urge to comfort him bubbling back up her throat. But all she managed to get out was, "I hope your mum's alright, Scorpius."

* * *

Lily was uncharacteristically up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning. In her right mind, she would have been utterly sour at being up so early. But today she was in the sunniest of spirits. After all, she had found a potential solution to her Lorcan Problem.

It was perfect. Rose and Lorcan will get together. They will start dating. Hell, they could even go to the Library for their dates. I bet they'd both like that. So adorable. And then all will be right in the world. No more disturbing dreams for Lily.

With that particular note of positivity, Lily slipped into her favorite pair of black jeans and an old baggy Weasley jumper with a big "J" on it that originally belonged to James but she had inherited it since James hadn't been able to fit into it since last two years. She decided that it was the perfect morning for an early breakfast. She went down to the Common Room, practically skipping on her feet. The Common Room was characteristically devoid of others given the time, except for the couch where Rose was sprawled, fast asleep, her head at an angle that was surely going to give her a nasty neck pain for days. Lily stood there for a couple of moments, wondering what to do. Then she ran upstairs and fetched a pillow and a blanket with her. She carefully lifted Rose's head to place the pillow when Rose said something unintelligible. "Wh—whussup?" she said groggily, looking up at Lily in confusion.

"Shh," Lily whispered. "It's all good, Rosie Poo. Go back to sleep."

But seemed like Rose was quickly coming out of her stupor, rubbing her face tiredly. "What day is it?"

Well, maybe not entirely awake.

"Um, Saturday?" It came out like a question.

"Right," Rose squinted. "Why are you up on a Saturday morning? Shouldn't this be the middle of the night now as per your internal clock?"

"My clock is broken, just like you," Lily said cheekily, then added with a sigh, "I can't sleep."

"Makes the two of us, Lil. Are you going somewhere? You're all dressed up."

"Uh, breakfast? I've heard the pancakes are way better if you go this early. You want to come?"

And who would ever say no to pancakes?

* * *

There were a handful of people in the Great Hall when they took seats opposite of each other. And the rumour was true. The pancakes _were_ better. Lily helped herself to a hefty stack of it, topping it liberally with whipped cream. Rose seemed happy as well, because despite the bags under her eyes, she was humming under her breath softly, her plate identical to Lily's in its content.

"We should do this every day." Lily said enthusiastically.

"I agree," Rose said around a mouthful of pancakes. "Merlin, that's good."

"So, what's the plan?"

"For what?"

"About Lorcan, of course." Lily said, with a sly grin, then added with a conspiratorial tone, "So? What's our secret strategy? Our game plan? Our sneaky power move? Our-"

"Shush!" Rose looked over in the general direction of the Ravenclaw table, praying for it to be empty. Lily wasn't exactly a subtle conspirator, after all. But of course, Lorcan was there. Thankfully, he seemed oblivious to Lily's not-so-secret-and-very-VERY-loud scheming, because he was nibbling on a toast and his head was buried in a book. "Keep it down, Lil." She whispered. "Don't look now, but he is right there at the Ravenclaw table."

"Where? Where?" Lily asked excitedly, half out of her seat, searching for Lorcan. Subtlety, thy name is Lily.

Rose shook her head in resignation.

Lily, at last able to spot the object of discussion, looked back at Rose, and this time in a slightly lower voice, she said, "But that's great, Rose! Don't you see? Now is the perfect time to ask him out. If you don't do it now, Lorcan will scurry off to the library again, and hide in his fortress of books." Rose just chewed a piece of her pancake in response, looking at Lily with a dubious expression. "There are only, like, seven other people here right now, and half of them are nodding off into their porridge bowls. If you're feeling shy or anything. Nobody will notice. GO!"

Rose pressed a hand at her temples. If she would have been careful, Viola wouldn't have seen her with Scorpius. And if Viola wouldn't have seen her, Lily wouldn't have known about this and she wouldn't have been in this shitstorm. She couldn't fathom why Lily was pushing her towards Lorcan like she was the only boy in the world. It was getting a bit too desperately ridiculous. She smelled a story there, but decided that she didn't want to know anything about it. The more you know about people, the more you have to be involved. And she had had enough involvement in other people's personal lives. And look where it got her.

"Lily, will you plea—oh, shit." Rose whispered, looking somewhere behind Lily. "He is coming over here. He heard—hi, Lorcan!" She said brightly. "How is it going?"

Lily had suddenly gone pale as a sheet. Thank Merlin, her back was towards Lorcan. He wouldn't see the dumbstruck look on her face.

"Hullo," Lorcan said with a small smile, as he came beside Lily and looked at her, silently asking for her permission to sit (so old fashioned) at the empty spot beside her. But Lily was too busy looking like her brain had left this realm. So, Rose nodded at Lorcan. He placed his book on the table in front of him. Then said, "I haven't seen you girls here at this hour before."

"Yeah, well. Neither of us could sleep." Rose said.

"Oh? Is everything alright? Still having strange dreams, Lily?" Lorcan asked with concern.

Lily finally decided to come back from her mini brain vacation, as she looked at Lorcan and muttered in a small voice, "No, I'm good. Thanks."

Lorcan wasn't having it, apparently. Because he pressed on. "Are you having trouble with Potions again? I can help you if you want."

 _Hmm. Interesting,_ Rose thought. She had always thought these two hated each other. Or at least Lily hated Lorcan, the way she wouldn't hesitate to unleash her sarcasm at him at every chance she got. And now, it seemed like cat had gotten her tongue.

"OWLs can be difficult, Lil. You can come to any of us for help when you need it," Rose was dying to know the Lily-Lorcan dynamic. But she decided to rein her curiosity in. "I've told the same thing to Hugo."

Lily wasn't stupid. She realised that Rose's observant nature would pick up on her odd behaviour. And she will come after her with questions. Lily composed herself with great difficulty, and said with a convincingly grateful expression, "Thank you, both. I'm so lucky to have you all around. Rose, did you know that Lorcan here has been helping me with Potions? I feel so much confident now in my knowledge of Moonstones, Lorcan." She threw a dazzling smile at him. "Of course, Rose here got nine O's in her OWLs including Potions, didn't you, Rosie? Such a smartypants. Alright," She stood up, taking support of Lorcan's shoulder, who was frowning at her in confusion, and hopped off the bench. "I'm off. I have some reading to do. I'll let you two geniuses chat. Toodles!"

Lorcan kept staring at her retreating figure with unwavering interest, without realising that he, himself was under the scrutiny of Rose Weasley.

When he looked back at Rose, he flushed slightly and shrugged as he opened his book, "She has been acting strange since some time now. I don't know what has gotten into her. Mind if I read while you finish your breakfast?"

Rose didn't say anything to that. There was no point. Lorcan already looked like he was buried back in his book. He might still (shockingly) oblivious to why Lily was acting strange. But Rose definitely had her suspicions.

* * *

The Manor, usually bustling with servants, was eerily quiet. Scorpius almost feared that nobody was home. He looked around the huge hall to realise that the Manor had probably not seen a servant since days. There was a layer of dust everywhere. Scorpius started sneezing, as if to confirm that fact.

He brought his right elbow to cover his nose, sneezing continuously. "Dammit." Sneeze.

He went past the foyer to go to the East Wing of the Manor where his family had chosen to stay post War. The paintings in that wing were friendlier. Although, as Scorpius moved through the corridor, he noticed that a few paintings had been abandoned by their subjects. Curious. But before he could dwell on it, he heard a shuffling noise coming from one of the rooms close-by. Scorpius, now fully alert and recovered from that awful sneezing spell, looked around him cautiously, wand at ready. He couldn't see much anymore because it was dark. But whoever it was, they were aware of Scorpius' presence. Because the noise had subsided. But stillness is not in the human nature. One way or another, we usually give away.

Scorpius, his steps light as a cat's and agile as a tiger's, pounced on the intruder having them in a tight headlock. The intruder dropped their weapon—a saucepan?—and tried to get out of Scorpius' grip.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here in my house?" Scorpius snarled.

"Mr. Malfoy, please," the intruder—a woman—wheezed. "Let me go. I—my name is—"

"Soapee?" Came a tiny voice from somewhere near his knee, and sure enough, he felt a slight tugging at his robes. "Is that you?" One more tug. "Alice? It is so dark. I am scared."

Scorpius, filled with an acute bout of protectiveness, mumbled "Lumos", praying to Ministry Gods that this little bit of harmless underage magic will go undetected by the Ministry. He set that woman free of his grip as he fell to his knees and took his little sister in his arms. Ireland threw her frail little arms around her brother's neck and held on for dear life.

Scorpius stood up, holding Ireland in one hand and his illuminated wand in the other, and gazed at the woman standing before him. She was a harmless looking lady probably older than his parents. "I take it you're Alice?"

"Yes," she said. "Alice Whitaker. I am your sister's nanny."

Scorpius nodded. "Where's my father, Alice?"

"Mr. Malfoy, your father, he is not doing so well." She said apologetically, pity apparent in her eyes. "Come with me. You should probably see it for yourself."

Scorpius nodded again. "In a bit," Then looked at her sister who was now looking back at him with big brown eyes. "How are you, little one?" He whispered playfully.

"I'm okay, big one." She giggled. Scorpius planted a big smooch on her forehead and said, "Let's go and see what mummy is upto, shall we?"

* * *

 _ **A/N: Thank you, everyone! Your reviews and follows/favorites make me so happy! Keep them coming! They are so motivational.**_

 _ **PS: I know this one's short. Sorry about that. I'll try to make 'em longer next time.**_

 _ **thatharrypotterchick: Next chapter I will try to get in some Lily/Lorcan time for you. I am leading upto it. It's just that, I am a big fan of slow burn. Thanks for your review!**_


	15. Of lies and deception

Rose was itching to grill Lorcan about Lily. Because, of course, there was something there. Maybe neither of them realised it yet, in which case, her interrogation will get at least Lorcan thinking about the possibility of it. But the thing is, in real life, its not exactly easy to ask a guy about his love life without coming off as if you're trying to hit on him or asking him out. And after the crackling energy Rose had witnessed between Lily and Lorcan, she was certain about never wanting to even think about going out with Lorcan Scamander. How did Lily do it? How did she ask people about their love lives so confidently? Right. Lily was upfront about her nosiness. People expected it from her. Rose, however, was sneaky nosy. And it went against her image. Rose felt like slapping herself for even thinking the word "image".

Lorcan, however, made it all easy for her as he looked up from his book and raised his eyebrows inquisitively, "Can I ask you a question at the risk of sounding like a presumptuous fool?"

Rose grinned at him. "You would never sound like a fool even if you tried."

"Right," Lorcan cleared his throat and frowned, his gaze focused somewhere past Rose's left shoulder. "Why was Lily trying to set us up just now?"

Since the jig was up, Rose decided that it was best to go with the truth. "Lily has it in her head to make me start dating sincerely. And you are her first target," Rose flinched at her own choice of words. "Sorry. You know how she is. She can be tenacious if she puts her mind to something."

Lorcan didn't say anything accept nod his head and stare at nothing as he kept chewing his lip, deep in thought. That was not a good sign. Rose was having an internal freak out. She didn't want to lose a friend over this. And despite of knowing what kind of person Lorcan was, an irrational part of her kept nagging at her brain, telling her that Lorcan would decide that it was better not to be friends with Rose after all.

"This is awkward." Rose said.

"Tell me about it." Lorcan muttered, then looked at Rose and smiled sheepishly. "Would you be terribly offended if I were to say no, though?"

"Of course not. I had decided not to ask you anyway. We tried this once, remember?"

"Yeah, that was a bit of a disaster, wasn't it?" Lorcan winced. "I'm sorry about that, Rose."

"Ah, no. It wasn't entirely your fault." Rose waved it off, then smiled at him, her eyes sparkling. "Hey! Maybe we should aim to find people we can love more than we love the library!"

Lorcan gave her a half smile and said, "Actually, I already have someone in my life."

* * *

Scorpius sneezed for the thousandth time as he went through the corridor with Ireland still clung to him, her mouth and nose covered with Scorpius' handkerchief. It didn't make sense why father had shifted mother to the West wing. They rarely ever used those rooms.

He voiced his question to Alice. "Why are they staying in the West wing?"

"I don't know. A month ago, Mrs. Malfoy took to her bed, terribly ill. Mr. Malfoy had everything shifted to the West wing overnight."

"Where is everyone else? Where is Richard?" Scorpius asked, wondering where the aging butler had disappeared.

Alice stopped in her tracks and looked at Scorpius with pity in her eyes. "Mr. Malfoy dismissed most of the staff. Richard was heartbroken and begged to stay. But I suppose Mr. Malfoy didn't want anyone around."

Scorpius looked at her in confusion. "No offense, but then why are you here?"

Alice hesitated a little before answering, "I would never leave little Ira alone."

At last they stopped at a door. Before opening it, Alice looked at Scorpius and said, "I know you don't trust me, but please," she said, stealing a glance at Ireland's sleeping form in Scorpius' arms. "Try to keep an open mind. Keep your temper in check. If not for your sake, then for hers."

Scorpius didn't like the sound of that. Of course, he didn't trust her. The last time he was home—which was barely two months ago—there was no sign of a Ms. Whitaker in this house. Ireland had always had a part time nanny who came from nine to five every day. But a full-time governess? And Scorpius wasn't foolish. He hadn't missed the protective way she looked at Ireland. How had a governess of two months formed such an attachment to a child in such a short time was beyond him. His naturally suspicious nature was starting to gnaw at his brain. He was itching to interrogate her. _But that will have to wait. For now,_ he thought as he entered the room trailing behind Alice.

Of course, he had expected to see something unusual in the room. The kind of bad anticipation Alice had created on the subject had been a fair warning for him. Even before that Scorpius knew that his father would be in a right state with everything that had been going on. What he hadn't steeled himself for, however, was the complete disarray displayed in front of him.

The first thing Scorpius noticed was the awful stench in the room, the kind of stench only a human body can make if left unwashed for days. He was afraid to find out which of his parents were the source of it. Although it was quite an easy mystery to solve, because right then, Draco Malfoy was sponging his bedridden wife with utmost gentleness. There was a bowl of water placed at his feet. Draco was whispering something to his wife as he continued with the task at hand.

Draco himself was, to put it mildly, a mess. He was in one of his pyjama bottoms and a blue t-shirt, a dressing gown thrown over it. From the wrinkled and stained state of the clothes, Scorpius assumed that his father probably hadn't seen a shower in at least a few days. His blond hair, usually so immaculately parted on the side and swept back in a sleek style, was sticking out in every direction. His face had a week's worth of stubble.

Scorpius' grip on Ireland tightened a little as he took a careful step closer to where his father was. His always vigilant father, who was still oblivious to his presence in the room.

"Father." Scorpius said, but his voice came out in a hushed rasp.

Draco didn't hear him. But Scorpius could definitely hear Draco as he whispered to his wife, "Is the water alright, my love? Would you like me to warm it up a bit more for you? There is a bit of a chill to the air today."

Scorpius shuddered and tried again, a bit louder this time, "Father."

Draco heard him this time. He looked up, a flicker of surprise in his otherwise lifeless eyes. "Ah, Scorpius. I didn't know they let you out for Christmas already. What day is it? I was just telling your mother that it is a bit cold today."

Scorpius didn't know how to respond to that. But his gaze shifted to his mother's body. Astoria had lost a lot of weight recently, so much that she almost looked like a small child buried under all those blankets. Scorpius didn't have enough grief left in his body to deny the possibility that his mother was probably already dead. A chill ran through his spine and settled as a dull headache.

"McGonagall let me leave for a bit to see mother." Scorpius said.

"Scorpius, my darling boy. You were always a little too sensitive for your own good." Draco said, his calm exterior sending Scorpius into panic mode. "I had told you to stay put. Your mother is being taken care of. She will be up and running in no time at all," He said in a cheerful voice. "And then you will have to hear from her for skipping school."

"Father, please." Said Scorpius, not sure what he was pleading for.

"What is it, Scorpius? And why," His voice hardened a bit as he looked at Ireland who was finally stirring awake, rubbing her eyes and then again letting her head rest on Scorpius' cheek. "Is she here?"

Ireland's dark gaze fell on her father and she chirped as only a four-year-old could, "Daddy!"

Scorpius never understood it, her devotion towards their father. She had always been a tactile child from the start. She would constantly grab onto your hand or your face if she was on your lap. Even their father, who was the least tactile person he knew, took it all begrudgingly, in the rare moments when Scorpius had seen Ireland and their father together. That often made Scorpius doubt his "father-hates-Ira" theory. But then again, you never knew the inner workings of Draco Malfoy's mind.

"And you," Draco snarled, looking at Alice. "You're still here? Didn't I tell you to stay away from my house and my daughter? Where is Angela?" His father grew frantic.

"Mr. Malfoy, please." Alice whispered. "I am just—"

"Scorpius, you get this woman out of here. You get her out _right now,_ or I won't be responsible for my actions." Draco had his wand out now, his sick wife forgotten momentarily.

Scorpius' hand gripped his own wand under his robes as he took a steady step closer to his father. "Father, please. Mother is—"

"No, you don't understand. She is with _them._ Those hooligans. They call themselves The Cavalry. They have been running around robbing estates—stealing artefacts, gold, stealing _children._ Get her out _now."_

Scorpius had his wand out and pointed on Alice's forehead now.

Alice, with her both hands up said, "Scorpius, listen to me. Think. Why would I steal from you- let alone your sister— when all I have done is protect her?"

"Tell me, Ms. Whitaker," Scorpius' eyes were cold, his grip tighter on his fidgeting little sister. "Are you a member of this group—The Cavalry?"

"Yes." Alice whispered, feeling Scorpius' wand jabbing into her forehead.

"So you weren't employed by my father like you had implied earlier."

"No, but-"

"Of course, she wasn't," Draco muttered behind Scorpius. "I asked _Angela_ to stay. She is— _was_ \- the new governess. The last I remember this woman was with that man who leads these hooligans—Cade something-or-other."

"Cade Whitaker." Alice provided quietly. "He is my husband. I—he was—Mr. Malfoy—Scorpius, please. Just give me a chance to explain myself. Ask Ireland! I've never tried to hurt her, have I, Miss Ira?" She looked at Ireland desperately, who had started wailing now as any child would when adults start yelling.

"Stay. Away. From her." Scorpius gritted out, his grip tightening on his wand. He let his sister down and behind him quickly. "Shh, stay there, Ira. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. You," He pushed Alice with his wand, forcing her to stumble onto the chair situated behind her. "This is your chance. Talk."

Alice whimpered at first, but then she steeled herself, "I am a Squib. Years ago, I used to work at the Leaky Cauldron where I met Cade first. He was a charming fellow. He always knew what I wanted to hear. And I was foolish enough to believe him. We got married. At first, I didn't know what exactly it was he did. But one day he told me we needed to leave. Keep moving. His job required that of him, he said. I believed him then. Why wouldn't I? But then he started sending me on these little errands. He would take me to people's houses—big houses—like this one. And he would sometimes send me in to fetch things when he couldn't get in. Sometimes the wards don't let wizards in but if they are weak enough, they do let Squibs inside."

"Why did you come here then?"

"Cade had abducted children before. I think he had been watching your house for some time. Because we were camped not far from here since the beginning of this summer. We knew there was a little girl in here. We also knew that the house was mostly abandoned. Your servants weren't terribly loyal. But Richard, he was kind. I had run into him a couple of times during the Summer. Cade wasn't always around. So sometimes I came upto the house to spend time with Richard. That is how I got to meet Ireland first. Richard loved her. Then he came to me one day, crying, begging me to look after Ireland. I knew about the nanny. But I still kept an eye on her. I started lying to Cade about the situation at the house. But he found out about the house being abandoned. Because he brought me here a week after Richard left and told me to go inside and fetch the little girl. I said I wouldn't. So, he threatened to kill me." Alice tried to swallow back a sob, but her throat was too dry. "But I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it anymore. So I got in. And never got out. And turns out it was for the best. When I came here, the nanny had ran away. Your sister was unconscious—she hadn't eaten for two days. So I decided to take on the job of looking after her. Its not like I have anywhere else to go."

Scorpius couldn't believe this. There were so many wrongs in this situation that he couldn't even begin to count. What was his father _doing_? Isn't it his _job_ to see to Ireland's safety at least? He knew that Draco had made a point of being a detached parent. But this was a whole new level of detachment. This was _reckless_. He felt a newfound respect for this strange woman in front of him. If it weren't for her, his sister would probably be dead by now. His hand instinctively tightened around Ireland's hand. He lowered his armed hand a bit.

Draco saw that and scoffed. Scorpius was a sweet boy like his mother. It never made sense to Draco why his son was like this. The boy didn't have a bad bone in his body. But he was weak. Too soft. Naïve. He didn't understand that sometimes you just have to take matters into your hands. Sometimes, you just have to _strike_.

Draco raised his wand at ready and moved towards the wretched woman quickly.

Yes. Scorpius was softer. Even a bit naïve, perhaps. But he was also quicker. Younger. He had the reflexes of a cat. And he was deceptively good at combat.

He must have foreseen his father's movement; maybe the yelp from Ireland who was looking over Scorpius' shoulder at father gave it away. But he turned around and exclaimed, " _Stupify_!"

His father froze and fell to the floor. His expression was a startled gasp, his eyes wide his mouth open. Scorpius wasn't done yet. He had to tie all the lose ends. He pointed his wand at a surprised Alice and murmured, " _Incarcerous._ "

"I'm sorry. You're probably telling the truth," He said, his voice dry. "But I still don't trust you."

"Look, I don't really—"

" _Silencio_." Scorpius drawled out the spell with a tired voice.

Scorpius looked down at his sister who was obediently quiet looking up at him with a mixture of confusion and awe, her face streaked with tears. "I want mummy." She said, her arms up, urging Scorpius to pick her up. Scorpius obliged.

He went to his mother's bedside. She had been quiet through all of the excitement, which had made Scorpius sick with worry. And his suspicions were mostly true. Because when he looked at his mother, she was incredibly thin. He skin was ashy. Her brown eyes -so much like Ireland's- were open, a tear rolling down her left cheek. Scorpius set Ireland down on the bed beside her. She started stroking mother's hair. Scorpius bit his cheek to stop himself from crying as he took her hand into his and said, "Mother, it's me. I'm here now. Talk to me."

Astoria, of course, couldn't answer. Her speech had been lost some days ago. She could barely blink now. " _I love you, my darling boy."_ She wanted to say. She wanted to squeeze back his hand. She wanted to run her hands through his hair. Kiss his forehead one last time. She wanted to take her daughter into her arms and never let her go. She wanted to hold her husband's hand, walk with him in the garden—barefoot—one last time. But she couldn't. She couldn't move a finger. Her breathing was laboured.

A tear of frustration rolled down her cheek. Scorpius couldn't hold back a sob anymore as he looked at Ireland trying to make their mother to respond. "Mummy, look! I am taller now."

Scorpius barked out a tearful laugh. "I got a leave from McGonagall to come here. Rose Weasley talked to her. Can you believe it?" He rambled, hoping his mother could hear him. "She is reckless. And annoying. But I am glad I'm here. We will spend the entire week together. You and I can play a bit of Exploding Snaps, too, when you're feeling up to it. I have so much to tell you," His voice twisted into sorrow again as he said, "Mum, please. Say something."

He rested his head on his mother's stomach and started crying earnestly.

* * *

Harry Potter pushed his glasses up his nose bridge as he looked at the mirror for the last time, then tried to flatten his hair, and failed miserably. He sighed aloud and said to his wife, "Maybe I should just shave this. That will put me out of my misery."

Ginny raised her eyebrows at him, handing him his tattered old watch, "Why? I like it. It has character."

Harry grinned in response, "Don't you think I have enough character as it is?"

"Well, that-"

"MUM!" came an interrupting bellow from downstairs. "MUM! THERE'S AN OWL FOR DAD!"

Harry pursed his lips to supress irritation.

"Don't start, Harry." Ginny warned him.

"What? I didn't say anything."

"You didn't need to." Ginny glared at him. "His apartment had a leak, Harry. The whole place was flooded. How was he supposed to live there? You know all of this."

"Yeah, well. That's what he said, at least." Harry mumbled.

"Harry-"

"MUM! IT WON'T GO! YOU NEED TO COME DOWN!"

Harry sighed at that. "I better go and see what that is about."

Downstairs, Harry was greeted with a very dishevelled James dressed in his pyjamas, tackling an owl. The owl was now perched on James' chest and trying to nip him on his neck. Sometimes, it baffled him how his kids got themselves into these situations. Especially James, who had been a little hellion from the start. He was a fussy baby, crying at the worst possible places, throwing food at people, tugging at their hair. In fact, the hair tugging had gotten so bad that he had made a girl cry.

People would often point out that James was how Harry would have turned out if he had had the privilege of a normal childhood. Harry always chose to ignore these comments because he felt like people were a bit too fond of labelling his kids and forcing them into these moulds that they thought fit them well. According to them, James was "just like his namesake, just like his late grandfather". Albus was "a replica of Harry". And Lily was "a blend of her grandmothers". While he suspected that some of these statements might be true to some extent, he refused to believe them. Because these kids were born in fame, whether he liked to admit it or not. And that was the sad truth. And to top it off he and Ginny, in their young (too young) age had decided to honour the dead by giving them names of some of the most famous wizards of the last century. It was a mistake neither of them would ever admit. And it was also a redundant guilt as it was too late for them to change their names; the mere thought of it was absurd and yet, something Harry wished he could do. But James had been "James" for too long. And Albus. And Lily…

As he watched James struggle with the feathered creature, he dwelled on how James had somewhat managed to adapt into his "mould". James was a Quidditch prodigy. He had learned to fly a toy broomstick as soon as he could walk. At the age of five he was caught flying his father's broomstick out in the backyard one summer. The time it took Harry and Ginny to get him to the ground that day were the worst thirty minutes of their lives. He was brilliant at both, Charms and Transfiguration. He was self-assured, headstrong, and stubborn to his core. He also had a tendency to skulk behind his mother's proverbial skirts when it fancied him. It was just like James to show up at his parents' door 10 o'clock at night with a duffel bag and a broomstick, asking if he could stay with them for a bit as his apartment had a leak. Ginny had hugged her boy tight and made him tea, asking Harry to go and make James' bed while the boy ate the soup and chatted with his mother. Harry wasn't ready to break it to his wife—because it would lead to a fight Harry didn't want to get into that night—but he was certain that James was lying. Harry suspected that all of this had something to do with a certain muggle girl James had been involved with since a month now (don't ask how Harry knew this). But he wasn't going to ask James about it unless he would provide that information voluntarily. James had been sour on the topic of his romantic life since the start. He was notoriously private about it. And Harry respected that. Ginny, however, didn't. If she so much as smelled the stench of a break up or other romantic troubles on her kids, she would turn into an interrogator that could rival an Auror. Everybody knew that. It made sense why James was lying.

"Oh! Dad. Thank Merlin you're here." James said, his voice struggling. "Get this bugger off me!"

Harry freed the owl from his son, gently stroking its head with his finger. "Go ahead and bring me a treat for this one, will you, James?" Harry said, as he untied the letter from the bird's talons.

"It doesn't deserve a treat." James grumbled, but went to fetch a treat regardless.

"Alright, let's see who this is." Harry said, squinting at the letter.

"You need to start carrying around your reading glasses with you, Harry. You will go blind as a bat in the next ten years at this rate." Ginny frowned at her husband as she handed him said glasses.

But it was like a dark cloud had descended on him. Harry was slouching a bit, the weight of the world on his shoulder, as always. Ginny squeezed his free hand in hers and gently asked, "What is it, Harry?"

"I have to leave now."

"And go where? To Hogwarts?"

Harry shook his head several times as he looked at her with what could only be called an expression of suppressed anxiety. Ginny had seen that look on his face several times before. But she had never seen him so lost before.

"To Malfoy Manor."

* * *

 _ **A/N: So, this chapter is a tiny bit longer. I have a few surprises for y'all in the next few chapters. I might not update next week due to some personal entanglements. But I will be back as soon as I can. Please keep reviewing. They help me figure out what you guys like and don't like.**_

 _ **Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter!**_


	16. Of Secret Girlfriends and Sanctuaries

There are certain things that you would never expect from certain people. For Rose, that list of people and things would contain Hugo saying no to someone, her mum not being busy, her dad not laughing at his own jokes, Albus gossiping, Lily not fussing, James falling for a girl who didn't have fantastic "assets"... the list, as one could see, was long. Lorcan having- as he had put it so eloquently- having a "special someone" would be one of those things. And from the looks of it, Lorcan was either unsure of that particular situation, or mad about it, or both. It was really hard to tell from his pinched expression, as it was a rare look on his otherwise startlingly blank face. Lorcan wasn't what one would call a garden variety Chatty Cathy, after all. Sure, they went to the library together. And Rose had often seen him frowning over his books like he was finding the cure to cancer in them (not that the magical population was prone to having cancer), or debating with her on, well, everything in the history of the universe in his scholarly way. Those were the rare moments when Lorcan opened up- if you could call it that. Mostly- and this was just Rose's theory- because he was quite passionate about things he thoroughly understood. This, however, wasn't one of those topics. Lorcan was chewing the inside of his cheek, not saying a single word as a form of admission to his "I already have someone in life" bomb.

Now Rose wasn't big on talking about feelings, either. She rarely talked about her own. But she was almost certain that even though the girl Lorcan had just referred to was most probably not Lily, the way Lorcan looked at Lily made Rose suspect that Lily was involuntarily and unknowingly involved, or starting to cause chaos in Lorcan's quiet mind. The dormant romantic in Rose raised her head from her slumber, itching with the sort of anticipation that made her sick. She tried to stomp it down by chanting "Idon'twanttoknowIdon'twanttoknow" to herself. But the more she did that the more she _wanted_ to know what the deal was. Maybe she was channeling Lily's spirit. Or maybe Lily had finally cracked the code to somehow possessing someone's body and being alive, all at once. She wouldn't put it past Lily, after all. Lily would have a field day with an ability like that.

Rose shuddered at that line of thought and decided that it was time to put Lorcan and herself out of their misery as she raised an eyebrow- or tried to raise one eyebrow, but since she wasn't equipped with that particular talent of nature like Scorpius Malfoy- damn him- she ended up with a twisted expression of her own as she asked, "Well? Who is she, then?"

Lorcan gave out a frustrated sigh as he specifically avoided looking her in the eye and mumbled a barely audible, "Just a girl."

Rose barely controlled herself from rolling her eyes. She couldn't afford that kind of attitude with a grumpy guy like Lorcan when she wanted answers from him. "Yeah, I figured as much," she said levelly, a little bit of sarcasm seeping past her filter. "I was more referring to her identity than her gender."

Lorcan rubbed his scratchy looking chin. He was debating whether he should tell Rose about June or not. Lorcan had started dating June last summer. They had a good thing going. She lived next door and went to Beauxbatons. June was…nice. Uncomplicated. Understanding. Pretty. At the end of that summer when Lorcan had to come back to Hogwarts for his sixth year, June told him that he shouldn't worry about her because she didn't want to bind him into an impossible long-distance relationship. They had remained summer lovers who only reconciled in, well, summer. And the rest of the year they owled each other. It was a casual relationship. Lorcan, ever so practical, was more than happy with this arrangement. This way he could keep girls here at Hogwarts at bay. And concentrate on his coursework. He was the only seventh year taking twelve classes this year, including NEWT level Muggle Studies and Alchemy. And he needed all the time he could get to study.

He knew Rose was prying. He was not stupid. She had been a friend of sorts, so Lorcan knew how she ticked. Rose wasn't like a bloodhound when she was up to something. She wouldn't pry unless she was concerned. She was not sneaky. Her motives were usually harmless and quite obvious. And she always asked frank questions. Lorcan liked that about her. But in this case, he wasn't sure why she was asking questions, yet. And he had a niggling suspicion that whatever it was, he wouldn't like it. So, he decided to trade with caution as he said, "Her name is June. She lives next door and goes to Beauxbatons."

"Oooh. Fancy." Rose whistled. "How old is she?"

"Uh, eighteen."

Rose nodded at him without really saying anything. She kept tugging at a thread on the sleeve of her t-shirt, deep in thought.

"So, you have a girlfriend. That's great!"

"She is not my girlfriend." Lorcan let out a frustrated sigh. "Its –a—a thing we have. A very casual thing."

"Let me ask you something," Rose folded her hands in front of her and sat up a little straighter. "Does this _thing_ of yours involve going on dates?"

"A few."

"Does she owl you often?"

"Lately she has begun writing more often, I suppose." Lorcan shrugged.

"Knew it," Rose shook her head in exasperation. "Does she ask you where this _thing_ is going in her letters?"

"Well, not in th—"

"Never mind," Rose held up her hand. Her whole routine had made Lorcan break a sweat by now. But he had more ego than an average person to ever back out and admit that Rose had got him. "How about sex?"

Lorcan's eyes grew wide and he blinked once, resembling a sleep deprived owl. "Wh—what?"

"Sex, Lorcan. You know, that thing we experiment with as teens among other things? The thing where a boy puts—"

"I know what sex is," Lorcan said stiffly giving her a "talk to the hand" sign, looking extremely offended by Rose's line of questioning, which was expected, as Lorcan was, well, he was a bit old fashioned that way. At least that's what Rose had always thought. He didn't like it when people used crass language or threw in a sexual innuendo. She had seen disapproval written all over his face when James had said something particularly saucy about Carmen Miranda's purple knickers.

Lorcan at last got over Rose's directness and said, "That—sex—basically sums up a significant aspect of it."

Rose didn't say anything, but nodded expectantly.

"She says she wants to give me space."

"Well, she is in France right now, so…" Rose trailed.

"Not like that. She wants us to have our separate lives at school. Going on dates and stuff, you know."

Rose sniffed, trying really hard not to judge this June girl the way only girls try not to judge other girls' life choices. Hey, don't judge Rose for judging. Nobody said she was infallible. In all honesty, she couldn't grasp June's motives—not that Lorcan was very forthcoming about her in the first place. But from what little he had said, three possibilities came to her mind:

1) Either June was one of those girls who called them "free spirits". You know, those hippie types who believed in giving out love to all and all that jazz. She was probably dating up a storm back in France while Lorcan here—and Rose knew this for a fact because news travelled fast here at Hogwarts—was not dating a single soul.

2) Or she really was a very practical gal who was smart enough to know that long-distance never really worked.

3) _Or—_ and this was a big "or"—she really was a very practical gal who was smart enough to know that long-distance never really worked, _and_ she was in love with Lorcan. A total goner.

Rose couldn't really blame her if it was no.3. Sure, Lorcan wasn't _her—_ Rose's type, but if the number of girls who frequently visited the library for Lorcan-watching or the fact that Lorcan had the whole broody thing going on like Albus (minus the I-am-the-son-of-the-savior-and-constantly-compared-to-said-savior-therefore-my-pain-is-bigger-than-yours complex) which girls found appealing was any indication, Lorcan certainly could be a lot of girls' type with his dark looks and his old-fashionedness. At least that was the empirical evidence.

Whatever the case maybe, right now Lorcan's entire story seemed to have gaps the size of the Hogwarts quidditch field. And the way Lorcan's shoulders had gone all stiff, she was sure he had caught on to her prying. She decided to cut her losses. But this whole exercise in interrogation had a purpose that had completely been backburnered: Lily. So she closed the topic, but with a warning.

"You're right," she said with a leveled voice. "This _does_ sound a bit complicated. But I hope you will not break someone's heart in the process."

With that, she left the Great Hall, leaving Lorcan slightly frowning at her. After a minute of contemplation accompanied by a series of wistful sighs, Lorcan did the same. He, after all, had an appointment with a special someone. A lot of special someones, actually.

* * *

After practically running away from the Great Hall like her tail was on fire, Lily had decided to visit Hagrid in a moment of inspiration.

She realized that it was a bit chilly outside as she wrapped arms around herself and waited for Hagrid to open the door. Over the years, Hagrid's Hut had expanded into more than a hut. It was more like Hagrid's Animal Farm. But nobody called it that.

She didn't know the entire story, but from what she had heard from her father over the years, Hagrid had been one would call an animal lover and collector. At one point, he had fancied himself a dragon adopter, in fact. That dream had never come to fruition, but Hagrid had other animals in his care. After the war, when Hogwarts was being remodeled, Harry had fought tooth and nail for Hagrid to have his own sanctuary of beasts—mostly a dozen or so Hyppogriffs, a bunch of Thestrals, a couple of griffins, a few thunderbirds, pixies, a very old three-headed dog, and three dogs—of the normal variety. And these were just the animals Lily knew of. There could be more. But nobody was allowed to enter the place unless Hagrid gave them the key. The place was more guarded than a prison. But it was more like a safe haven for a lot of beasts who had lost home when a part of the forbidden forest had been destroyed during the war. The ministry had agreed to the plan on the condition that Hagrid hire a couple of helping hands, which he had in form of Steve Harvey, a surly wizard of forty years and more recently, Calliope Bello, a woman in her late twenties with beautiful curly black hair. Calliope was friendlier than Steve. She looked like an Amazonian princess with her amazing stature. All the boys either drooled over her, or were scared to death of her. All three of them worked as the Gamekeepers of Hogwarts. But Steve preferred being Old Filch's crony than working with Hagrid. There was something fundamentally wrong with Steve. Nobody knew what exactly, but nobody liked him. Maybe it was the fact that he had a humped back and his face permanently twisted into a grimace. Hagrid had tried to get rid of him before. But it hadn't worked. Steve had some footing somewhere in the ministry. So instead of kicking him out, they had given Hagrid Calliope, who had quickly become Hagrid's right hand, and his unofficial daughter. All three of them had quarters in the Hut, thanks to the power of Extension Charms. But it made visiting Hagrid often difficult, especially if Steve was around.

Lily felt relieved when it was Calliope who opened the door with a big grin on her face. "Hello, Little Redbird," she said. Lily grinned back at her use of her special nickname. "Hey, Calliope." she said, looking around for any sign of Surly Steve.

"Don't worry. He is not here. Ran off to see his master, I think," Calliope drawled. "Come on in. I'll fetch Hagrid."

Lily let out a breath of relief and looked around what you could call The Hut's common room. It was warmer here, which was just Lily had hoped for. She plopped herself in a raggedy looking, but oddly comfortable chair by the fire and warmed her hands. Boy, this place was homey. A bit smelly, too. But definitely homey.

"Little Lil!" Hagrid boomed as he limped on his heavy looking staff. "Haven't seen yer pretty little face here in a while."

He seemed delighted to see her. But then again, Hagrid loved having all the Potter-Weasley children visit, except maybe Cousin Molly, who secretly nobody really liked because she was a whiner.

"Hagrid!" Lily leapt to her feet excitedly and hugged his giant old body gingerly, careful not to throw his old arthritic body off balance. "How are you? How is the leg? Where is Spotty? Can I play with him? Got any cake?"

For reasons nobody could fathom, Lily was the one freak o' nature who liked Hagrid's horrid cakes. She always had. But then again, she could stomach almost anything. A thing of envy to most people who knew her.

"For you, always," Hagrid gave her a wobbly smile, "Come on, tell me what that brother of yers is upto."

"Which one?" Lily groaned, as she tried to help Hagrid sit on the chair opposite hers without much success.

"The younger one," Hagrid hissed out in pain as he took seat. The chair creaked a little. "What's 'is name? Yes. Albus. Where is 'e? 'asn't been 'ere ter see me once since you lot came back from home!"

Lily frowned at that. That was unlike Albus. Out of all three of them, Albus was the one who perhaps loved Hagrid most fiercely. She had heard her parents talking about Albus once during his first year. Her father was worried. He was telling her mum that Albus had been miserable after his sorting into Slytherin and ended up sleeping in Hagrid's Hut for a couple of nights until Scorpius Malfoy had shown up and urged Al to come with him to the dorm unless he wanted to get expelled. Hagrid had written Harry a note to let him know his child's trials. That first year had been hard for Albus and harder on their parents. He had returned to his dorm. But he hadn't been accepted by everyone wholeheartedly. There were rumours about him being a Dark Wizard among some of the older Slytherins who looked at him with distrust and fear. He had grown quieter. He had become even more of a loner. But thanks to Hagrid being Albus' proxy parent, James' tough love, and Scorpius' friendship, Albus had at last come to his senses. His quietness still remained, but at the end of the year he seemed happier. He had even made a few more friends. But Albus had never forgotten what he owed Hagrid. He always visited Hagrid every Saturday morning like clockwork and brought little tea cakes for Hagrid that he probably stole from the kitchens.

Maybe the whole thing with Dad was messing up Al's mind. You never knew with him. He wasn't exactly a sharer.

"He is busy finding an internship, I think," Lily feigned nonchalance. "I will tell him that you miss him."

"I dun miss 'im. I worry," Hagrid said gruffly. "Yeh lot in't wha I'd call sensible. Like father, like chillun, all o' yeh."

"Hey! Don't pile me in with those gits!" Lily grumbled. "I am a lady."

Hagrid and Calliope both snorted in unison at that as Hagrid said, "Yeah. And Spotty 'ere is a gentleman."

Lily gave the big old giant an offended look and said, "Fine. Tell me everything. How are things with your beasts."

"Careful now, Redbird," Calliope quipped. "Old Hagrid here doesn't like people calling his children beasts."

"He calls them beasts himself!"

"Yeah, well. Haven't you heard people yelling at their own children?"

"Don't remind me," Lily said with a martyred expression. "I know all about that pain."

"Are yeh two quite finished with yer buffoonery?" Hagrid rolled eyes. "Calliope, go see ter Marty. I think 'e is getting anxious. I wonder where that boy is. 'E's late again. And you," he indicated to Lily, "fetch me those letters from the tabe, will yer? I need some 'elp."

"See what I'm talking about?" Calliope tossed over her shoulder at Lily as she left to see to the Mysterious Marty, who was probably the one making the awful screeching noise.

Lily smiled as she went to fetch Hagrid's letters. But then she heard a knock and looked at Hagrid who indicated towards the door, "Well? Open it, girl. Must be the boy."

Lily wasn't sure who this boy was exactly that Hagrid had been cursing so much. _Must be Steve,_ she though absentmindedly as she walked to the door. _Who wouldn't curse him?_ And opened the door.

Standing—or towering—before her, was Lorcan Scamander, the sleeves of the midnight blue sweater he'd been wearing earlier in the Great Hall pulled up to his elbows, exposing his beautifully sculpted forearms. Lily swallowed back a lusty sigh. Fit looking boy forearms were her Kryptonite. After thoroughly ogling said forearms and those amazingly wide shoulders she finally looked into his dark brown gaze. He looked troubled. Not a familiar expression on his usually frowny/disapproving face. He pursed his lips as he did the same thing unknowingly that Lily was doing a moment ago quite knowingly. He scanned her thoroughly, stopping a moment at Lily's long neck then cleared his throat and looked away quickly as if he remembered something suddenly and schooled his features into a blank mask.

"Oi! Is that yeh, boy?" Hagrid hollered. "Lily, who is it? I can't see yer blasted faces from 'ere. Close the door and get inside before yeh catch a cold. Foolish children." He muttered the last part under his breath.

"Hi." Lily said, her eyes wide, remembering that she should have said that about a million years ago when she had started stripping him naked with her eyes, praying to any higher power that was currently listening that Lorcan hadn't noticed her staring.

"Hullo, Lily." He said in that gravelly voice of his as he offered a little smile. "I thought you had some reading to do."

"Yeah, well," Lily chewed on her lower lip. "I changed my mind."

Lorcan's gaze latched on to Lily's lower lip. He knew what was happening here. This really odd feeling was creeping into him, the one that had started to breed into him about two years ago. A kind of longing that he had harbored while gazing at Lily from afar. An old ache that he had buried deep because it was futile. It was unrequited. Lily had always loathed him. The tenuous thing that they had going right now was because Lily needed him—his help with Potions. That's all there was to it. Nothing else. He scolded himself. _You are her tutor_. _Snap out of it, mate. And besides, she is young. Too young._

He cleared his throat and walked around her to greet Hagrid, who he suspected was glaring at him. It was hard to tell with him because Hagrid had gone almost blind. "Hey, Hagrid. How's it going?"

"Yer late. Tha's wha's goin'." Hagrid replied, although he didn't seem particularly miffed at him. And then Lily realized what was really going on here. Hagrid was one of those adults who were under Lorcan's legendary spell. They all loved him. And why wouldn't they? He was practically born an adult himself.

"I'm sorry," Lorcan chuckled. "I overslept."

Lily knew he was lying. But wasn't sure why, utterly curious of what had really transpired between him and Rose.

Hagrid shook his head in disapproval. "'Kay. Yeh can go out the back. Calliope's tendin' ter Marty. 'E 'as been wailin' last night."

"What happened?" Lorcan asked, his brows etched with concern.

"Ah, same ol'. Misses 'is mamma. Yer the only 'un who 'e listens ter."

Lorcan sighed in defeat, sounding like he had been through the exact same situation a thousand times before. "Alright. Let me see what I can do."

"Wait!" Lily blurted out, unable to stop herself.

Lorcan stopped in his tracks and raised an eyebrow at her in question.

"What's going on? Why are _you_ here? Nobody is allowed in there." She asked sharply, her question coming out way harsher than she originally intended.

Lorcan realized that and steeled himself a bit more. If Lily was back to her hostile self, it meant that it was apparently time for them to be at outs with each other for them. He wanted to snap back. But before he could do it, Hagrid answered for him quite matter-of-factly. "Don't yeh know? Young Lorcan 'ere is me apprentice!" He continued proudly. "Very talented, yes 'e is. Very kind, too. The beasts love 'im, don't they, boy?"

Lorcan's ears turned a bit pink—the only sign of his embarrassment. Lily frowned in confusion. Why was Lorcan working for Hagrid? "Why are you working for Hagrid?" Lily asked, immediately regretting the way she had asked the question.

Lorcan glared at her. But Hagrid hadn't seemed to notice as he said, "Why, ter become a Magizoologist, o'course! Don't yeh know, Little Lil? It's a family tradition for the Scamanders. 'Ave a way with beasts, all of 'em. Or most of 'em." Hagrid said the last part as an afterthought. "That other one-Lysander. Wouldn't leave 'im alone with even Old Spotty 'ere…"

Lily wasn't listening to Hagrid. She stared at Lorcan with a new perspective who stared back in challenge, as if daring her to comment on this new information that she had gathered. Lorcan, the Library Lover who was always cooped up unto himself. Lorcan, who had just a couple of friends. Lorcan, who had never really shown interest in outdoors, much alone animals to her knowledge. It didn't make any sense.

When Lily didn't say anything, Lorcan looked at Hagrid and muttered, "I better go and see what's going on."

"Wait!"

Lorcan sighed and asked Lily without turning towards her. "What now, Lily."

"Can I come with you?"

* * *

 _ **A/N: So? So? Do you like it? Love it? Hate it? Wish it had never been born?**_

 _ **At the risk of sounding like a total narcissist, I loved this chapter. I had a really hard time constructing June's back story. And I am pretty sure that that particular plot line probably took away a few points off Lorcan's otherwise flawless character. But Lorcan needed that. He needed a weakness. I don't believe in perfection when it comes to people. Everyone is flawed, should be flawed. Oh, and no Scorpius for y'all this chapter. Sorry about that. Next chapter you will find out why Harry had to go there. I am warning you guys, though. The reason is pretty obvious.**_

 _ **Anyway, thanks to all who followed/favorited/reviewed. Please continue to do so.**_

 _ **PS: Hagrid's dialect is really hard to write.**_


	17. Of bendable laws

"Can I come with you?" Lily asked enthusiastically, jumping a little on her feet like a kid outside a candy store.

Lorcan narrowed his eyes at that. It didn't make sense to him why she wanted to come along. From what little he knew about her, Lily Potter wasn't an animal person to begin with. He knew for a fact that she had never been able to keep a pet alive in her life. She had given out that tidbit herself quite willingly. Whatever her motive may be, Lorcan still didn't have the heart to say no to her face when she was like this. Merlin knew he had few weaknesses, but hell, they had him by his throat. _She_ had him by his throat. Not that he would ever willingly show his weakness to her. Putting that much power into Lily Potter's hands would be a fatal mistake. So, once again, he kept his face carefully blank as he turned around and looked at Hagrid, hoping to heavens he would say no.

Hagrid apparently had failed to hear that little exchange because he just stared back owlishly at Lorcan. "What?"

"She's asking if she can come with me." Lorcan said a bit loudly, his patience never wavering.

"And go where? To the menagerie? Are yeh oot o' yer mind, missy?" Hagrid turned his glare towards Lily.

"Oh, come on, Hagrid," Lily used her nicest tone and went a bit googly eyed, bringing out all the manipulative arsenal that she possessed. "I have always wanted to know what you have stored up back there. Pretty please?"

Lorcan suppressed an appreciative smile as he rubbed the back of his head. She was good. Hagrid however looked on at Lily with utter distrust.

"I'll be a good girl," Lily added sweetly, hitting the nail right on the head. "I promise."

Hagrid sighed exasperatedly, as if the entire ordeal was somehow increasing the pain in his knee and causing him to sneeze at the same time, and grumbled with a warning finger pointed at Lily, "Yeh'll no' touch anythin'. Yeh'll no' spook me beasts. Yeh will keep quiet abou' this when you leave. And yeh _will_ stay with the boy _at all times_."

Lily bobbed her head in consent. She could finally be the one who will get the opportunity to see Hagrid's animals. One of the very few. And yes. That was the _only_ reason why this was a great idea. Nothing else.

"You," Hagrid's warning finger now pointed at Lorcan like a gun. "Make sure this one doesna' get into trouble. If yeh think yeh've seen all the beastliness yeh could in there, yeh've got another thing comin' fer yeh with this one here." He indicated towards Lily.

Lorcan rolled his eyes at that. Lily had everyone spooked with her antics. He turned to Lily and offered his hand. "Coming?"

Lily, being her typical self, bypassed his hand and walked right through the door towards the sanctuary as if she'd been doing this all her life without sparing Lorcan a second glance. What she had forgotten during this impressive display of sass was that without Lorcan's key she couldn't get in.

* * *

"You don't have to go there again, you know." Harry said cautiously as he walked briskly with Hermione towards one of the ministry corridors.

Hermione smiled to herself. Harry always did that. He still couldn't help protecting people like it was his responsibility. "Its ministry business, Harry. I can't just refuse to go somewhere because I don't like the place."

"Yeah, well," Harry muttered. "That's why we have people."

"We do. And as the Minister its my responsibility to stand in between people and threats. And besides," Hermione gave him a playful look as she said, "Its not like Bellatrix Lestrange will be there lurking behind a statue, wand at ready, the word "mudblood" simmering at her lips, bursting to come out."

Harry frowned at his friend disapprovingly as he said, "That is _not_ funny. I can't believe _you_ would joke about something like that."

Hermione wanted to argue that she didn't have anything to do _but_ joke about it. But instead she added mischievously, "Maybe Ron is finally rubbing off on me. Nineteen years of marital exposure would do that to a person, you know."

Harry just snorted in response, unable to help himself. "Alright. We need to leave now, though."

"That's what I've been saying this whole time, Harry."

A young man with sandy blond hair suddenly came storming towards Harry followed by a dark-haired witch, both tagging along as Harry kept up his brisk pace. "Mr. Potter, sir?" The boy said.

"Can we come with you?" The girl chirped excitedly.

The look of utter exhaustion and defeat that eclipsed over Harry's face told Hermione that these two were the green Aurors Harry had just hired two months ago. They were trainees, really. Fresh out of Hogwarts, bursting to prove themselves to the Great Harry Potter.

"No." Harry said in clipped tone as he increased his pace into a sprint. His disciples easily kept up as they jogged along.

"Please, Mr. Potter." The boy practically pleaded. "We will stay with Ed—Mr. Lupin, promise."

Harry rolled his eyes, knowing perfectly well that he had lost the battle. Harry had a reputation as the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It wasn't exactly a secret that Harry treated his subordinates like a momma duck would her baby ducks. He was stern when it really mattered. But a lot of times he let them loose. He was slightly flexible with rules if it didn't hurt anybody. He was cordial to them most of the time, but mostly he cared about what the youngest trainees were learning from the department. He had strong ideas about it. And he gave his people as many opportunities as he could to learn from the department. Harry was a good leader. A bit on the soft side, but good nonetheless. The trainees, the really good ones like these two knew when to take maximum advantage of Harry's qualities.

"Fine. Stay with Teddy and," Harry glared at the two when they chuckled at Harry's use of Edward Lupin's childhood nickname. "Don't do anything stupid. This is most probably nothing. Underage magic is often just a false alarm. But given the location of it, we need to look into it. Where is Ted anyway?"

"He went to see Vi—"

The girl elbowed the boy and said, "He said he'll meet us there."

"Great. let's go," then added sheepishly as an afterthought. "Oh, and this is Hermione Granger, the Minister. In case you lot failed to recognize her."

* * *

It had been ten minutes since Scorpius had fallen asleep, his head on his mother's stomach and his sister doing the same at their mother's feet. Their father was still lying unconscious behind them. Alice was tied to the chair and under the Silencing Spell.

Scorpius felt it before he heard his mother choking. He lifted his head from her stomach and looked at her in bewilderment. Ireland must have felt the same thing because she was shaking mother's shoulder, trying to wake her up.

"No." He whispered, his eyes wide with fear. "No. No! Mother, please stay with me. What do I—" He whipped out his wand and wracked his brain for a spell or a potion—anything really, that would help him save his mother. Unfortunately, sixth years didn't have much knowledge about Healing Spells, but Scorpius had an interest Healing. He had read books. And something suddenly came to his mind. He wasn't sure if it would help him or not. He pointed his wand towards his mother and tried his best to steady his trembling hand as he muttered, "Come on, Scorp. Don't be weak. You can do it."

He concentrated on the magic that he could feel surging just under his breastplate, and with an absolute sense of confidence, he said, " _Anapneo_."

His writhing mother stilled for a moment. Scorpius broke into a cold sweat, absolutely certain that he had killed his mother. But then she took a shallow breath. Then another. And another. After that, she seemed stable.

Scorpius took a tired breath as he took a weeping Ireland into his arms, sitting cross legged on the floor beside his mother's bed and rocked his sister gently. "Shh. It's okay, Ira. She's okay. I promise."

"What happened, Soap?" Ireland said between sobs. "What happened to mummy?"

Scorpius kissed her on her tear-streaked cheek as he said soothingly, "Mummy's alright now, luv. She was just having a little bit of trouble breathing."

"And Daddy?" she asked, her eyes wide with concern.

Scorpius sighed. He couldn't understand her unrequited devotion towards father. "Daddy is taking a nap." He said shortly.

"Hmm. I'm tired, Soapius."

"I know, babybug. You can nap on that chair for a bit if you want." He indicated towards an empty chair by the window.

Ireland just shook her head as she asked in a small voice, "Can I stay with you instead?"

"Sure you c—"

Before he could finish that sentence, the door to the room blasted open and in came a wizard with hair the colour of midnight blue—almost black, and hazel green eyes, his wand at ready was pointed towards Scorpius. His stature was cautious. "Wand on the ground, Scorpius." He said gently, as if dealing with a spooked dear. "Now, please."

Scorpius did as told. Although, at one point Teddy Lupin had been a friend of sorts. He knew that the Metamorphmagus was now an Auror. Worry spread into Scorpius like a spider web. He got off the ground and shielded Ireland by pushing her behind him.

Lupin's eyes drifted towards the people in the room just for a moment before he looked back at Scorpius, who carefully asked, "What are you doing here, Ted?"

"I'm just doing my job. A better question would be what you're doing here, cuz," Teddy asked pointedly. "Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

"Mum's sick. I have permission from McGonag—"

Another interruption came when someone gingerly opened the door with a creak. Harry Potter's head of messy jet black hair came into vision, followed by, well, all of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and two familiar looking people Scorpius couldn't quite recall the names of.

Harry slid an utterly disapproving glance towards Teddy who looked at the newcomers dubiously and went back to threatening Scorpius silently with his wand. Harry's eyes left him and moved from and unconscious looking Draco on the floor followed by Scorpius' frightened expression to somewhere behind Scorpius' knees, where Ireland was peekabooing from.

Harry supressed a small smile as the little girl quickly hid behind the boy. He had heard about Malfoy having another kid, but hadn't really seen her before. Hermione must have noticed the same because she put away her wand for a bit, balancing her hands on her knees she said, "Hey, there."

"Stay back, Ira." Scorpius held his sister back, looking like someone who was frightened but doing his best to put up a brave front.

"Put the wand down, Teddy." Harry said irritably and looked at Scorpius. "Scorpius."

"Mr. Potter. Minister." Scorpius nodded at them both in greeting, his hands still behind his back, holding his sister in place.

"There's no need to be frightened, Scorpius, please. We have received an Underage warning coming from this place." Harry said soothingly, "Would you like to tell me what happened?"

Scorpius didn't say anything.

"Mr. Malfoy. _Scorpius,_ " Hermione urged. "No harm will come to your sister, I promise. But you must tell us what is wrong. Is that your mother?"

Scorpius had noticed how she only talked of his sister's safety and not his. But he was okay with that. As long as Ireland was safe, he would happily give his life to these people. "Yes, madam. That is my mother. She is ill." He said in a carefully controlled voice.

"And you're here to see her?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Mr. Potter."

Scorpius had never really interacted with Harry despite of his friendship with Al. Their interactions were limited to greetings in passing on the train station. But from what he had heard from Albus, he seemed like a kind man.

"I had permission from the Headmistress." He added as an afterthought.

Harry turned towards the blond wizard behind him and said something quietly. The guy nodded and left the room hastily. Harry looked at Teddy and said, "Ted, why don't you see if we can bring over there back to consciousness while Hermione and I will be having a chat with young Scorpius. Does that sound good, Scorpius?"

Scorpius nodded reluctantly. Ireland peeked from behind Scorpius and Harry said in a playful voice, "And who do we have here?" He glanced at Scorpius silently, as if asking for permission. Scorpius seemed to have relaxed a bit because he nodded slightly with a sigh. "Boy, my eyes are getting weak. Do you see a little girl over there, 'Mione? Or is it just me?"

"I sure do, Harry." Hermione said with a smile. Then said, "Hi."

Ireland looked up at Scorpius to see if it was okay to talk to these strangers, then gave a shy smile, "Hullo."

"I am Hermione Granger. What is your name?"

"I'mIslandIt'sverynicetomeetyou." She said the greeting quickly as if she had been practicing it in front of a mirror for quite some time, and thrust out her hand to shake.

Hermione let out a surprised chuckle as she shook the little girl's hand. Then the girl trotted towards Harry to do the same but Scorpius held her by her collar and picked her up in his arms. "Alright, squirt. Stay quiet now while I talk to them."

"But, Soap—"

"Shh. No." Scorpius put a finger to his lips, successfully silencing his sister. Then looked at Harry and Hermione with a blush on his face. "Sorry about that."

"Oh, not at all. I understand," Hermione said, as Harry smiled at him reassuringly. "Do you feel comfortable enough to talk now?"

"I think so," He mumbled. "But my parents…and that lady—"

"Oh, we're looking forward to _that_ story, I assure you." Hermione grimaced. "But your parents are in great hands now, I promise."

Scorpius nodded, feeling a bit ashamed now.

Harry, having suffered through an investigation under Underage Magical Law could empathize with Scorpius' current state of mind. The fact that he had some idea about the credibility of the boy's ethics from what he knew through Albus was also a good backup. He patted his back and said, "Come on. You can tell us everything."

So, Scorpius did.

* * *

"Wow," Lily whispered, looking around with an expression that was part astonishment and part bewilderment. It truly was incredible. There definitely more creatures here than she had originally assumed. And it was definitely not a prison. It was more like a home for these poor creatures.

An Erumpent was casually waddling by as Lily twirled around on her heels like a manic ballerina, her face filled with happiness.

Lorcan, however, had eyes only for this new, surprising version of Lily, who looked so much like her fifteen-year-old self just then.

"This is truly wonderful, Lorcan."

He supressed a smile of his own and gently said, "Yes, well. Some of these can be quite dangerous if you don't know how to handle them. So don't go off on your own, alright?"

But Lily was already fluttering from here to there, resembling a butterfly. "Oh, look! These green things! How cute!"

Lorcan, who was in the middle of gathering a bunch of wood logs, shook his head in disbelief. "Those are Bowtruckles, Lily. You had them in third year."

"I was probably sleeping in that class. Gosh, third year was exhausting." Lily said breezily.

Lorcan lifted his eyes to heavens as he bound the logs together with the help of his wand and levitated them.

Lily must have seen the look in his eyes as she said, "What? Not all of us are blessed with the capacity to study like you do, Scamander."

Instead of rising to her bait, Lorcan just shrugged in response and went back to the task at hand. That made Lily even more miffed at him. She glared at Lorcan—or his back, more specifically. _His magnificent back._ Lily groaned with frustration and looked around to check for potential witnesses. When all she could find were a couple of creatures-Lily-knew-absolutely-nothing-about chewing green grass like plant thing, she lifted her palm and slapped herself. What in the bloody hell was wrong with her? Why couldn't she stop her mind from going on the Dirty Highway of Slag Nation when it came to Lorcan?

Lorcan must have heard Lily's self-inflicted violence, because he dropped the piece of wood log he had been holding and stared at Lily, his eyes immediately drawn towards Lily's now red stinging right cheek. Apparently, Lily hit hard, even herself. Lorcan frowned at her, looking quite confused as he asked, "Did you just slap yourself?"

"What? No!" Lily said defensively, lying through her teeth, "Do you think I'm _that_ crazy? It must be one of the monkeys."

Lorcan didn't say anything. His back once again towards Lily. The only indication that he had heard Lily's lukewarm explanation was his shoulders shaking with barely suppressed mirth.

"What? Why are you laughing?"

That brought out more chuckles and a few headshakes.

"It's incredibly rude to laugh at someone without telling why you're laughing, you know?"

"I don't- I— Oh, Merlin," Lorcan said turned towards Lily now, holding his stomach. "Oh, my stomach hurts."

Lily, her scowl still at place, was actually a bit lost at the wonder that was Lorcan's laugh. It was the happiest, the earnest laugh she had ever heard. Lorcan recovered from his round of chuckles at last and said, "I'm sorry. That was rude of me," He cleared his throat. "It's just that this is a magical menagerie. So, there aren't any _monkeys_ here, Lily." Lorcan grinned at her.

Lily's other cheek turned a bit red as well, as she avoided Lorcan's eyes and said, "I knew it. I was just joking."

"Uh-huh." Lorcan said, not believing her for a minute but deciding to let it go. "You think you can go a bit further? I need to check on Marty."

Lily followed Lorcan as she asked curiously, "Who _is_ this Marty anyway?"

* * *

Scorpius stared at Harry and Hermione in silence. They had been in the library for the past hour. Scorpius had told them everything, starting from his mother's illness, to Alice Whitaker, to what happened after he arrived at the Manor. They asked a couple of questions in between. And the two yound trainees interrupted a couple of times to inform them of the mediwizards' arrival.

They had been sitting quietly for some time now. Scorpius with Ireland sleeping peacefully in his lap. Nobody said a word as Harry scribbled something on his little notepad and Hermione, Scorpius noticed, was staring at him. She realized it as well when their eyes locked and recovered quickly out of whatever she had been thinking.

"So, how is school, Scorpius?" she asked brightly. "Do you like it?"

"Uh, yeah."

"What are your favourite classes then?"

"I like Potions, Defence, and er…Muggle Studies."

Hermione raised her eyebrows, clearly impressed. "That's wonderful."

Harry looked up from his notepad and grinned at him. "You aren't thinking of skipping my class next week, are you?"

"No, sir. I—" He stopped himself, looking at them questioningly.

When both Harry and Hermione waited patiently for him to continue, he said, "I'm confused."

"About what?"

"Am I expelled?"

Harry sighed and looked at Hermione who nodded in quiet understanding, then looked at Scorpius. "No, Mr. Malfoy. You're not expelled. And before you ask, no. We won't be taking away your wand from you. Not this time at least."

"Thank you," Scorpius released a laboured breath. He still couldn't grasp the situation though. "I'm sorry, I appreciate that you're not kicking me out. But...why? I broke the law."

"Do you want me to "kick you out"—as you put it?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"No, of course not." Scorpius' pale face went a bit red at that.

"I'm joking, Scorpius," Hermione took his hand in hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Yes, underage use of magic is a crime. But only if it is used inappropriately, or to harm someone. From whatever you've told us, I feel that you were just trying to protect yourself and your sister. So I'll let this go."

"And besides, your file here says that you will be of age in about two weeks," Harry said with a smile. "I think it would be terribly unfair to you if we went ahead and ruined your life. I'm sure you had your reasons for what you did. Believe me when I say that I've seen worse cases of inappropriate use of underage magic."

"Thank you so much." Scorpius gave them his first genuine smile.

"Alright, now. About your family situation," Hermione sat up a little straighter in her chair. "Both your parents have been taken to St. Mungo's for further investigations. I know your father didn't wish for your mother's condition to be public but these are dire circumstances."

"No, I understand. Thank you."

Hermione nodded. "About your sister, we have a couple of choices here." She looked to Harry for elaboration.

Harry pursed his lips and then said, "Scorpius, your father—he is… unstable. He needs help. He will probably be staying at St. Mungo's till the Psych Healer clears him. And as you know, your mother will need to be under constant medical supervision. Which leaves your sister without a guardian."

Scorpius looked at them with bewilderment. "What about me? I could drop out of Hogwarts. I can work jobs. I will—I will—I'll do _anything. Please._ "

"Scorpius. Scorpius, listen," Harry said soothingly. "I know what you are going through, alright? But you still have a few days left until you can be appointed as the official guardian of Ireland. Till then, I _cannot_ allow you or her to live here unsupervised. It could be dangerous. Especially at times like this when children are getting abducted left and right."

"Then what will I do? How do I keep her safe?" Scorpius said, his voice deadly quiet, his eyes brimming with unshed tears. "Don't you understand, Mr Potter? I am _all_ she has. All she has _ever_ had. I can't leave her alone."

"You don't have to. Look. We will take this as we go. But for now, I suggest you pack a few things and come with us."

"And where will that be?"

"To my home, of course. You and your sister will be staying under my custody for the time being."

"Is that legal?"

"Mr. Malfoy," Harry smiled. "I am the Head Auror. Neither I nor my wife is a serial killer. We have fostered other children before. I can assure you, you are in safe hands."

Scorpius was too shocked to respond to that.

"And besides, don't you think its time you visited your best friend's home?"

* * *

 _ **A/N: Well, look at that! I don't know where all of this is coming from, to be honest. I wanted to wait a bit longer before I posted this chapter. But I am not really good at the whole delayed gratification thing. I hope you like this chapter.**_

 _ **I don't usually talk about my writing music, but this one I wrote while listening to "Pillow Talk" by Wild Child, "Dear Wormwood" by The Oh Hellos, "Should Have Known Better" and "Fourth of July" by Sufjan Stevens, "Bloom" by The Paper Kites, and "Upward Over the Mountain" by Iron & Wine.**_


	18. Of hot nerds and code yellow

Apparently, Marty wasn't a bald, elderly guy smelling like cough syrup gone stale, secretly hired by Hagrid like Lily had suspected. No. Marty was better. Marty was beautiful, even adorably cute despite of how big he was. Lily wanted to touch him. She wanted to run her hands all over him. Although she suspected it wasn't exactly a good idea to ruffle his feathers when he was so emotionally volatile. Literally and figuratively. Or at least that's what Lorcan had informed her when Lily had tried to pet the baby Hippogriff. And he had flinched and let out this terrible sound that fell somewhere between a snarl and a cry of agony—Marty, not Lorcan. Lily couldn't tell what it had meant though. After all, she wasn't well versed in Hippogriff speak like some grumpy eighteen-year-old who was totally rocking that ratty old pair of jeans. Lorcan hadn't been impressed with Lily's "outrageous display of recklessness" – his words, not hers. After all, Hippogriffs could be fatal unless handled with utmost care. It almost baffled Lorcan that Lily didn't know that. Either that, or she just didn't have a good sense of self-preservation, which frankly, would explain a lot of things about her. He had picked Lily up by her waist like she weighed less than a rag doll and sat her on a rock nearby, chastising her to stay put. The whole ordeal had reminded Lily of the time when she was two and she had tried to put her hand in the pot of bubbling Alfredo sauce and her mother had caught her before any real damage was done.

At that very moment, Lily was waiting patiently for Lorcan to be done fussing over the baby Hippogriff. He was murmuring something to Marty as he stood beside the little twerp, grazing an index finger gently just above his beak. It was a sight to behold. If Lily could capture this scene into a painting (which she couldn't, as Lily was hazardous to a paintbrush), she would simply name it "The Boy and His Beast".

A Bowtruckle had climbed up Lily's shoulder at some point and made itself comfortable there, its little leafy arm thingies kept tickling Lily's neck and her ear, making her giggle, which in turn made Lorcan look up from his task and then look away abruptly, trying to hide a smile.

Lorcan couldn't honestly say that bringing Lily here had been a terrible idea. Apart from that initial recklessness with Marty, Lily had been surprisingly accommodating. She had stayed on the assigned rock for the remainder of the time, already having made a friend while Lorcan saw to the rest of the Hippogriffs. They were his main job, apart from the Nifflers and the chickens. Hagrid had been very firm about giving Lorcan the easiest ones. Not that Nifflers were particularly easy; far from it, in fact. But Lorcan wasn't complaining. It had taken him months to convince Hagrid to give him the Hippogriffs. The rest of the creatures were looked after by Calliope, who had uncharacteristically disappeared after saying a fleeting "hi".

"You ready to go, Lil?" Lorcan asked over his shoulder.

Lily, who was too busy worshipping a certain part of his posterior anatomy to listen, startled a bit and stuttered out a reluctant "y-yes".

As they made their way through the Sanctuary towards Hagrid's door, Lily remembered something.

"So, what did you and Rose talk about?" She asked, trying—and failing to muster up nonchalance.

She couldn't see Lorcan's face because he was walking ahead of her, but she noticed his back stiffen a bit. "Nothing specific. About classes and stuff, I guess." He said shortly.

Lily rolled her eyes. Either those two really were that boring, or Lorcan was dirty rotten liar. She was pretty sure it was the latter. But she also knew that she couldn't press him anymore for answers. His body language screamed "access denied" at that moment.

She wasn't wrong. Lorcan didn't want to talk about any of it. He had had his fill of prying females for the day, thank you very much; and it was barely noon. He must have noticed Lily's uncharacteristic silence, because he suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked back at Lily. "What? No more pestering me with follow-up questions?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't like it when I pestered you. Why?" She looked at him with big innocent eyes. "Do you want me to, Lorcan?"

Lorcan chuckled. "What I want from you, Lily," he said, leaning a bit closer to her, his eyes laughing. "Is to stop meddling with people's lives. But I don't think you could resist the temptation."

Lily, transfixed by his brown-black eyes, almost nodded like a docile little girl, when she realised that she was neither of those things—docile, or little. She glared at him and said, "I don't _meddle_ , Lorcan. I just nudge people in the right direction." Her eyes got a defensive look in them. "But if you can't appreciate that, then it is your loss."

Lorcan knew better than to react. When it came to Lily Potter, the only way to win was to keep quiet, and not let her succeed in raising your hackles. So, he held up his hands in resignation and continued walking.

* * *

Ginny Potter was a remarkable woman. Not many people noticed this immediately. All they saw was Harry Potter's ex-Quidditch player turned freelance reporter, mother-of-three, infamously outspoken, beautiful redhead of a wife. They were wrong. Those roles were just scratching the surface of Ginny Potter.

Scorpius wasn't most people though. He was quiet and observant. He was a people watcher. He watched how people acted around other people, how they reacted, what made them tick and what ticked them off. The first time he had truly paid attention to the Potters was when he had got off the train with Albus the end of their First Year. The Potters were right there—along with the Weasleys. Mr. Potter was looking a bit anxious, pushing his glasses up his nose as Albus often did, his forehead etched with worry. But Mrs. Potter, standing beside Mr. Potter, was _beaming_. As soon as Albus stepped off the train, she snatched him into a tight hug and then kissed him on the forehead. Albus, not a huge fan of public display of anything, protested like only Albus could, with feeble "Mum, please"s and eye rolls. What took Scorpius by surprise, however, was when Mrs. Potter engulfed _him_ into a hug. Scorpius, unable to comprehend what was happening gave Albus a wide-eyed stare, who responded with a "just-go-with-it" shrug. Mrs. Potter released him from the embrace, her eyes filled with a peculiar emotion and smiled at him, "You must be Scorpius. I'm Al's mum. Its so nice to finally meet you."

Over the years, Scorpius had had fleeting conversations with her when she always asked him about school and commented on how tall he was getting. It always made him smile. Scorpius had met only a handful of people who saw him as just what he was: a boy. Those who never associated him with the invisible disclaimer of "Son of Draco Malfoy: Ex-Death Eater" he had walked with his entire life. And that was enough for him.

Ginny was also a trooper when it came to handling surprises as was evident from how after a silent questioning look thrown towards Harry, she had immediately broken into a smile seeing Harry standing there at their doorstep with the Malfoy children. Scorpius had been greeted with a broad smile and another one of her crushing hugs. "Finally," she'd said. "You're here. I kept telling Albus to bring you home all these years. But my children never listen to me." She had feigned a sour expression at that and then stooped to Ireland's eye level and said, "And who is this fine young lady?"

Wide-eyed, Ireland had replied with her signature "HulloI'mIslandit'snicetomeetyou."

Ginny had broken into a surprised laugh and looked at Harry, "This is exactly how Lily used to introduce herself when she was little, remember?"

Harry had smiled in response.

It was not as awkward a meeting as Scorpius had dreaded. It was a little surreal in fact. He was at his best friend's place, without his best friend around. Albus' room was exactly how Scorpius had imagined. It wasn't too big, but it had a huge window. The walls were ivory, one entirely covered with hundreds of books. Some of them looked well-worn, but some of them were new; almost all of them were fiction. Albus didn't read non-fiction. His argument was that the real world wasn't as interesting as what he read in his books. The bottom shelf of his Wall of Books contained a set of state-of-the-art speakers, a record player, and some albums—Muggle music, mostly. He had heard of a few. Albus was always trying to make Scorpius listen to this artist or that. But Scorpius only remembered those he liked.

On the other wall there were pictures of Albus with his parents, Albus at the Eiffel Tower, Albus with Lily and James in Christmas sweaters, Albus in his Quidditch gear holding the snitch in his hand—he remembered that day. Scorpius was there when that picture was taken. Apple Skeeter had clicked it for the Herald, and even though it had taken some effort, Albus had convinced Apple to give him a copy. The snitch in the photograph was fluttering now and Albus was looking behind him smiling at someone. It wasn't apparent who he was looking at; the image of that person was a little hazy, but it was Scorpius. That was a good day.

Another picture that caught his attention was of a young—about Ireland's age- Albus playing with Rose on a beach. They were making sand castles. Rose's carrot coloured hair was fluttering in the wind and her tongue was caught between her teeth in concentration as she filled her little bucket with more sand. How such an adorable little girl had grown into such a vicious harpy was beyond him, but he didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think about _her_.

He shifted a little closer to the wall to squint at one of the pictures when he heard the bedroom door creaking open, making him turn to face the intruder. Only, it wasn't an intruder; it was James Potter, leaning against the doorframe, clad in pyjamas and a pair of Gryffindor socks. His hair looked mussed, like he had just got out of bed to grab a glass of water and decided to make a detour to his brother's room at last minute. He looked tired. Maybe he was sleepwalking, Scorpius thought.

"Malfoy." James greeted coolly, nodding at Scorpius.

Scorpius resisted an eye roll as he responded with an equally glacial tone, "Potter."

It wasn't exactly news, but James Potter was _The Potter_ back in Hogwarts. Potter—the good looking, charming-your-pants-off-you-before-you-know-it one, the Quidditch hero. There were a lot of "qualities" James had been known for in school. But those were the tags invented by people who _liked_ James. Scorpius had a duty towards Albus as his best friend to hate James passively. And Scorpius wasn't an irrational fellow. He had seen James tyranny up-close. James took every opportunity he could to mock Albus—make him look stupid or weak. James broke hearts of girls in his wake. He never said a word to Scorpius, though. He always expected to James comment on his heritage. Call him a Death Eater or something equally horrific. It wasn't as if other people hadn't done it. But James had never _ever_ done that. He had been remarkably dismissive to the whole idea of the friendship between Albus and Scorpius. Only once had he heard James calling him Al's "girlfriend" during a particularly nasty row. But otherwise, he avoided Scorpius' existence most of the time. But that didn't change that James Potter was still a colossal dick.

"You snooping on Al's stuff?"

"What? No. I'm just—"

"Oh, please," James held up his hands. "Continue. In fact, I would ask if I could join you but I'm afraid this is not an unexplored territory for me." He smirked. "Oh, don't look so scandalised. He has done the same to mine."

Scorpius folded his hands and asked tiredly, "Do you need anything, Potter? 'Cause I was just about to go to bed."

James gave Scorpius a half smile. No wonder he was Al's friend. Both of them were artful dodgers of confrontational situations. "Alright, look. I just came here to tell you that I found her," he looked behind him, "sitting on the stairs. You might want to see what that's all about."

Scorpius knew who he was talking about. He walked out of the room pushing away James a little which won him a mild protest from James. Sure enough, Ireland was sleeping on the staircase now, her face tear-streaked and tired. Scorpius felt a surge of guilt passing through him. He was too busy wallowing in self-pity to realise that his sister might be going through an equally terrible time, if not worse. He should have realised that Ireland was in shock. And it probably wasn't a good idea to let her sleep on her own in Lily's room.

"Is she okay?" James whispered behind Scorpius, trying to get a better look at the sleeping child.

"I honestly don't know." Scorpius mumbled as he picked Ireland up and took her to his—Al's room.

James didn't say anything as Scorpius put Ireland to bed and tucked her in. Then Scorpius quickly got to his trunk to find something. James could see the pain and uncertainty on his face. But he wasn't good at pep talk, especially when it came to such situations. He frowned as he said, "Well…do you want me to do something?"

Scorpius shook his head in response without looking at him as he got out a stuffed owl toy—Ira's favourite—and placed it beside her.

"I could call mum if you want."

"Nah. I think we're good here," Scorpius said, trying to appear as casual as possible. But there were tears in his eyes threatening to fall.

James stood there, debating as to whether he should ask Malfoy if he wanted a Butterbeer, but that would be way too much familiarity. So, he just shrugged it off and said before leaving, "If you need anything, I'm right next door."

 _Poor kid_ , James thought. James wasn't the touchy-feely sort. But he did feel sorry for Scorpius Malfoy. People always assumed that James was nothing but a superficial, selfish twat—at least the few friends Al had definitely had that impression. But that wasn't really true. Not that James cared what those stuck-up gits thought of him—but still. James wasn't a selfish twat. Contrary to popular belief, he loved his baby brother. He just loved teasing him more. But that didn't mean that James hadn't kept an eye on Al and who he consorted with over the years at Hogwarts. If Scorpius hadn't checked out as being a stick-up-his-arse-like-Al but otherwise an alright (almost too straightlaced) kid, James would have made sure to get Al away from him. He liked Scorpius as much as he could like a decent fellow human being who he didn't know very well. Scorpius was good people, which had also compelled James to beat up a Ravenclaw kid who had called Scorpius "Death Eater" once. James was territorial, after all. And any friend of Al's or Lily's was his responsibility, just like Al and Lily. He tried to protect his siblings as stealthily as he could. It didn't always work out, of course. Mainly because Albus was a holier-than-thou snob and James loved it when Al got all prissy and offended over the stupidest matters. But he was still his brother. And in his own twisted way, James loved his prim and proper arse. Lately they hadn't been on the best of terms. Partly because Albus was going through a "the-whole-world-is-against-me" phase. And also because James was trying to treat Al with some tough love. The plan had completely backfired as usual, ending up with Al hating him.

James didn't want to think about that, though. Al sometimes didn't realise how hard it was to be his brother. The quiet, sweet, bookworm Al Potter. Al had always resented him for something or other. For things that were beyond his control. But he never realised how wrong he was. Al had always seen James has someone had it all easy. He didn't know that James had a tough time during his first year at school. James had to constantly put up a front of "individuality"—as in, being something bigger than just a "Potter kid". He had built his unbreakable façade from the scratch, and he had _earned_ it. It wasn't handed to him on a silver platter like Al seemed to think.

That was the biggest issue when one sibling was extrovert and the other was an introvert. The extroverts are always mistaken for having an ego the size of a mountain, and the introverts end up developing an ego for not having an ego.

It was a cat and mouse thing with James and Al's issues.

James couldn't go back to sleep. He was too keyed up now. He went back to the living room and switched on the television. His father had been insistent of having one when they bought this house in the muggle neighbourhood; unsurprisingly, nobody had complained.

He flipped through the channels rapidly; at last stopping on the sports channel. Some basketball game rerun was on. James liked basketball. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a butterbeer to complete his experience of mindless-tv-watching.

"Can't sleep?" His father said from the end of the stairs.

James shrugged in response before concentrating back on the screen.

Harry sighed in defeat. He was having a terrible time as a father in general these days. All his kids were on some kind of "our-father-is-our-enemy" trip. He didn't know how to deal with them anymore. Still, James was the easiest of three to crack. James had always been easier to deal with because he was easy to please. He had been one of those kids who learn everything on their own and are so self-reliant that they barely need their parents for much more than some emotional support. James had always sought his mother for that more often than his father, which often made Harry feel…redundant. His son was a mummy's boy and while there was nothing essentially wrong with that aside from the slightly disturbing fact that Ginny had never really cut the proverbial umbilical cord of James, Harry still wanted a bigger role in James' life. All his kids' life. That was the major point of arguments with Ginny, who insisted that Harry never gave his kids time. "Just because they are alive and fed doesn't mean that they don't need their father! You really need to cut back your hours at work and give them time," she said.

She wasn't wrong. But Harry hadn't exactly grown up in ideal conditions. He had no clue what the consensus when it came to raising children. When he was a kid, it had all been about survival. And now his oldest was refusing to leave the nest because apparently there was a leak in his apartment. That was three weeks ago. Harry knew that there was more to the situation than that. James had lost his last game (two months back) and he had broken multiple bones in the process. The bones had healed, but the mind hadn't. James was sulking in defeat.

He handed Harry a bottle of butterbeer as Harry sat on the couch beside him. "Are you waiting for an owl or something?" James asked.

"No. I can't sleep either."

"Hmm," James said, rolling the neck of the bottle between his fingers absentmindedly. "So what's up with Malfoy?"

"His parents are sick." Harry said shortly.

James nodded but didn't pry any further.

"James," Harry approached cautiously after a moment. "When are you planning to go back to practice?"

James didn't look at his father, but his eyes hardened, a muscle ticked in his cheek. "Soon."

Harry pursed his lips. He wanted to say a lot of things, but settled with, "There are worse things in the world than losing a game."

"Great. Now you will give me the speech."

"What speech?"

"Come on, Dad," James scoffed. "We both know that you want me out of here. So you are going to give me the 'you-don't-know-how-easy-you've-got-it' speech. I get it, Dad. I am not fighting a bigoted maniac like you had to. But not everyone is you. Just because our demons are invisible, doesn't mean that they aren't there."

Harry's face twisted with grief and anger. He placed the half empty bottle on the table and got up. He wanted to say so much. He wanted to tear at James for his tone and his hurtful words. But he settled with, "Fine. Let me know when you are ready to talk like the adult you are."

He was just about to leave when Teddy's voice came from the Floo. "Harry! Are you there?"

Harry rubbed his eyes tiredly and bent closer to the chimney. "Somebody better be dying, Ted. Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Sorry," Teddy said hastily. "But you need to come in. There's been a…complication with the Malfoy case."

"Don't tell me they managed to kill Draco Malfoy."

"No, its worse than that. They uh… lost him?"

"They what?" Harry frowned before adding, "James, go to your bed. Now."

"Right," Teddy cleared his throat. "They lost Draco Malfoy on their way to 's."

"Fucking Hell, Teddy," Harry swore uncharacteristically under his breath. "Draco Malfoy is a grown man, and that too a sick grown man. How did they lose a person?"

"The Mediwizards said they took him to 's but before they could admit him, he had disappeared. I don't have the exact details on me at the moment."

"Then get them for Merlin's sake, Ted. I want a full report on the situation by the time I reach the location."

"You've got it," Teddy said firmly. "I'm sorry, Harry. I left them at St. Mungo's… if I had known—"

"Never mind that right now. Start interviewing every single person who had laid eyes on Draco Malfoy at St. Mungo's and find out who saw him last. And pray that he hasn't escaped. Or this will be an epic shitstorm at our hands."

* * *

It was dark when Draco Malfoy came to consciousness and found himself bound to a bed. He looked around helplessly, trying to figure out what exactly this place was. It was dimly illuminated. There was a pitcher—probably a water jug—in one corner, a toilet in the corner. The whole place smelled faintly of piss and herbs, a peculiar combination of smells for what Draco suspected to be either a hospital room, or a cell. It could be either, but given how the smell of piss dominated the smell of medicinal herbs, this was probably a cell. He tried to listen to any sounds. But it was eerily quiet outside.

Draco still wasn't sure how he got here though. He tried to jog his memory as he struggled against his bound hands. But it was a difficult task. His memory was fractured. All he could remember was bits and pieces: Astoria's sickness. Ireland. Scorpius coming home. His silent accusations. A flash. An army of Mediwizards. Him being bound to a stretcher. Then again a blackout. A vaguely familiar voice. Needles. People in white coats.

What day it was? How long had he been there? _Why_ was he here? Where was his family?

"Astoria. No. ASTORIA!"

A couple of people in blue scrubs rushed in.

"Great," One of the men in blue mumbled. "The loon is up again. Get me some midaz, Steve. GO!"

Draco looked at them, his eyes glassy. "What is this place? Where am I? Where is my wife? ASTORIA! SCORPIUS!"

The man pinned him to the bed. "Shut up, you freak," The man who wasn't Steve ground out. "Shut the hell up before I fucking kill you. STEVE!"

Draco struggled in the man's grip, "Let me go. I need to talk to my son. There is so much I haven't—SCORPIUS! WHERE ARE YOU, BOY!? SCORP—"

The man punched Draco in the jaw. The man named Steve hurried in with a syringe in hand. "About fucking time." The other man muttered as he performed a quick phlebotomy and hooked Draco to another pint of dextrose. "Hurry. Don't worry about the dosage. These freaks don't die that easily."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hello! I'm back! I know I am a little late. But not as much as usual. So I hope you guys will forgive me. I was traveling last week and then I got sick. It was awful—the being sick part. Not the traveling part. That was…um, adventurous, I guess?**_

 _ **Anyway. As you can see, we are going a little deeper and probably a bit more serious in the story than I originally planned. But I promise I will try not to mess it up. Consider this chapter to be a filler, in fact. I have big plans in the future.**_

 _ **I hope you liked this chapter. Thank you so much for all the reviews/follows/favourites. I live for them. Keep 'em coming. Cheers!**_

 _ **PS: Sorry about any grammatical mistakes. This chapter was really hard to write. I think I did okay. But there will be a shit ton of mistakes there. I tried.**_


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